On My Own - Rewriting
by The Hexagon
Summary: Set in a time where Inklings have appeared while the human race is still flourishing. Disgusted by humanity's ways, the Inklings began to slowly eradicate the human race. Humans were persecuted. Some were killed on the spot, some were captured. But what if a single man from a different universe was transported to this dark world? What would you do, if you're on your own?
1. Prologue - RW

_"A man's fate is not driven by his will or by his actions, but by the forces above that govern us."_

* * *

"Kill her! Kill her!"

I looked up from my cover, to see a very decorated officer fire round after round from his pistol, to the attacking invaders. "Somebody kill her!"

I looked to my left, to see a large swarm of the attackers stampede towards the armed man. "Agent, thank Zephos, you're safe!" I looked back at the officer, which was now looking towards me. "Get some help, immediately!" The officer shouted, before throwing me his pistol. I looked at it, and admired it's design. 'A P1-028 M320 Spectre,' I thought. 'Goddamn, she looks beautiful.' Holding a weapon made only for high ranking agents was an honor, to most people. I ran my fingers down it's slide, feeling every groove of the white, sleek pistol. "Can't make love with my pistol, Cerberus, she's already taken!" The officer shouted at me, noting my rank.

I was a Cerberus, third highest rank attainable by a Basic Hexagon Agent. It's not really much of an achievement. I was only at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Hexagon hierarchy, actually. I nodded at the officer, and pulled the slide of the pistol, releasing an empty cartridge. "You're going to need these more than I do," The officer said, throwing two magazines of the pistol at me. "Zephos have mercy on our souls," he said, before taking out his other weapon, a V/I Windslicer. A grand sword, Three feet long and somewhat lighter than a loaded rifle. Able to cut through diamond with ease.

The officer pressed a button on its guard, and the edge of the blade glowed purple, making it hum loudly. In the midst of the foggy night, it made him more visible than anything else. Surely, it will draw all attention to him. I don't know if he's brave, or idiotic to pull something like that. "Go, you idiot! Before we all turn into goo!"

I saluted, and turned around, reloading the officer's pistol as I began to run towards the communications center. The officer soon bellowed out a loud cry, before running towards the unknown.

* * *

Cerberus, Carbon

Hexagon Defense and Military Industries,

Third Person POV.

* * *

Carbon continued to run, passing by the burning rubble and debris, all once part of the great Castle Paris. Running from cover to cover, rock to rock, he tried to keep himself hidden from the aliens that had attacked the Castle. Getting closer and closer to his goal, he became reckless, and ran towards the communications building without taking any cover at all. He thought he was going to make it...well, until he was suddenly tackled by an unknown being on his right side. They both fell down to the ground, with Carbon hitting his head on a rock.

"Nam dea Solis!" The alien shouted, grinning at him widely as she held his arms and feet. Carbon quickly took action, and spat at the alien's face. It cringed, and lost it's grip on Carbon's arms. Taking advantage of his situation, Carbon quickly grabbed the alien by it's face, and viciously slammed it on the hard ground below.

"Get the fuck away from me!" Carbon shouted, locking his feet on the invader's neck. He quickly took the officer's pistol, and pressed it on the forehead of the alien. The creature struggled, choking under the force Carbon gave. He pulled the trigger, the alien swiftly silenced as the bullet's massive stopping power literally blew a crater on the creature's head. Blood splattered on the ground, and time slowed down.

First, he heard few drops of rain land on the ground beside him, before progressing to create a weak storm. He was frozen, staring at the alien lying down on the ground. Then suddenly, a brief crack of thunder jolted him back to reality, making Carbon yelp in surprise.

Quickly realizing his situation: exposed and vulnerable, He quickly stood up, and ran. The Hexagon Cerberus never looked back, tightly gripping the pistol on his right hand. He was then stopped, as he saw a large group of aliens, marching towards his direction. Panicking, he dove to cover, behind a large square stone that was once part of the humongous wall that shielded the Castle from attack, now broken and turned into ruin. Not knowing what to do, Carbon looked around him to see if there was anything he could use. The pistol alone wouldn't be able to push back the group, even if it did have enough ammunition in the first place.

He saw a fallen agent lying just feet away from where he hid. The corpse was holding a grenade, possibly an Arcane or a Fragmentation Grenade. Visibility was low, due to the hard rain that fell down the destroyed castle. Getting that grenade would mean that he would get out of cover temporarily, and risk exposure to the enemy.

"Ah, what the heck," Carbon said nonchalantly, before carelessly charging towards the corpse. After grabbing the grenade from the agent's vest, he quickly turned around and headed back to his cover...before tripping on a protruding object.

He fell to the ground, groaning loudly. "Ah, what the fuck?" He said, turning around to see a rock that caused him to fall. "Zephos damn it."

"Over there!" The aliens shouted, pointing at Carbon. One began to fire a bolt of fire at him, which he barely avoided by rolling to the left.

"Shit!" The Cerberus cursed, attempting to hastily stand up as the rest of the alien platoon diverted their attention to him, and charged their own bolts of fire. He ran back towards the square rock from before, avoiding their bolts, passing by mere inches away from his body. He slowly leant to the left, peeking to see if the aliens were still there. Another spark of lighting and a brief crack of thunder startled Carbon, causing his right foot to slip out of cover. A lone bolt then passed above his right leg, missing by mere centimeters away.

He hissed in pain as he held his right leg, apparently still being burned even if the bolt didn't make contact with it. He held the grenade, looking at it as he tried to know what type of grenade was it. To Carbon's luck, it was an Arcane Grenade. Easily one of the most destructive weapons that the Hexagon has ever produced. Not wanting to further damage the Castle's interior, he turned the knob underneath the grenade, and cycled it until the light being emitted by the grenade was turned white. Carbon smirked, and primed the grenade. With a strong throw, he easily launched the grenade ten feet away from him, with it landing down the feet of the alien platoon.

"Hey, what the-!" One shouted, before the grenade detonated. Carbon chose a non-lethal setting; the grenade emitting a strong shockwave with a force of 500 Newtons around it, flinging everything that stood near it. Like bowling pins, the aliens flew to random directions, screaming as they were unexpectedly thrown away. Using this open window of opportunity, he stood up, and ran.

His loud footsteps were masked by the rain, ever increasing in intensity. The Castle was completely dark, save for a few blinking lights that lit as mere white dots through the rain. The lightning illuminated everything for a split second, giving him quick glimpses of other agents struggling, fighting, and dying.

Having reached the communications center, he charged to the door, Carbon's left arm set to withstand the impact. With a loud yell, he stormed to the closed door, and rammed it as hard as he could...causing him to grunt in pain, holding his left arm tightly.

"What the fuck?" He said, confused.

The door soon opened, revealing an agent inside. "What the hell are you doing?"

Carbon replied, "What the hell are YOU doing, hiding in the CC while we're in total chaos?!" He yelled at the agent.

The agent paused, before saying, "This is the armory."

"...what?" Carbon asked, confused.

The agent sighed, and pointed at southwest. "That direction's the CC, you idiot."

Carbon then looked back, where the agent was pointing at. There was another building, which was apparently the same shape as the armory. It was twenty meters away, about two meters to the left from the square rock from where I hid earlier. "Sorry about that." Carbon smiled, sheepishly.

He came in nonetheless.

Arming himself before going out increased his chances of survival, so he went. Quickly going to the scanner, he pressed his card on the black panel installed on the wall. "Cerberus, Clearance Four," The computer spoke, before the wall opened, revealing a multitude of weapons available for C-4 personnel to use. Two arrow buttons located underneath the scanner cycled through the Clearance options, allowing others to take weapons from Clearance Three, Two, and One.

"You're a Cerberus, and you don't even know where the hell's the CC?" The agent behind Carbon spoke, before laughing. It was the one who opened the door for him, earlier. "Boy, they shouldn't even have promoted you to Dominion in the first place."

"Shut the hell up, it was raining," Carbon snapped, looking to the left to see a familiar Reconnaissance and Infiltration Trooper taking every Olympus attachment he could get. "Wait...Bismuth?"

"Yo," He greeted...more or less.

"Why the hell are you grabbin-?" Carbon asked, before being interrupted by Carbon.

"Better safe than sorry, Silicon." Bismuth finished packing, and closed his gray backpack. "Also, after this, me and my squad are going to be sent to a mission. Might as well use this opportunity to take all that I need." He passed Carbon, and took out his weapon, an SL-12M Silencer. "Adios," he said, before charging out of the armory, firing his weapon as he ran.

Carbon slightly shook his head, and went back to choosing his own weapon.

Having decided what to take, he took a SL-12 Silencer, and two P1-028 Spectres. The two being the most famous weapons in the Hexagon's armory. And for good reason, too. Also taking four Arcane Grenades, and three High-Explosive Fragmentation Grenades, he strapped those to his belt, and reloaded the Silencer and Spectres.

Carbon then took the P1-028 M320 of the officer, and tossed it to the agent. "Here, catch."

"Woa-hoah-hoah," the agent said in surprise, looking at the pistol with utter bewilderment. "Which officer died to give you this?"

"None of your business." Carbon then took their respective MagHolders, which are nifty little pouches that fabricate the magazine automatically, as soon as you remove the magazine. Attaching those to his vest, using a high-tech space era tool, also known as Velcro, he was now finally ready to come out of the armory.

"Don't trip yourself on the way out," the agent said his farewells.

Carbon tsked at him, rolling his eyes. He walked out the door, and took out the SL-12 Silencer. He then walked away from the armory, headed for the CC.

Walking slowly, he masked his movement using the rain. Five minutes later, he finally arrived. Having an uneventful walk slightly disappointed him, but atleast he was safe. "Ah, fuck!" More or less. After opening the door, he never lifted his foot enough to cover one of the stair's steps, causing him to fall face first on the CC's limestone floor. "Zephos damn it."

He stood up, and checked himself, to see if there were any missing equipment. Nothing. He smirked, before strolling towards the radio. "Echo, echo, echo. This is Castle Paris, located at Vizor II. We are under attack, please send additional agents to our location. We are in critical condition and in serious...danger?" Carbon turned to the door, a loud siren blaring out from the West Watchtower. Carbon soon got up, and slowly went to the door. Opening the door, he got a view of an obstructed sunrise, the sky slowly turning into a light blue by the second.

The rain slowly subsided, but as the clouds floated away, it revealed a massive armada of aliens, headed towards them. Carbon quickly closed the door, breathing heavily as he leant on it. He then swallowed a lump in his throat, before heading back to the radio.

"Echo, echo, ech- what the?" He said, perplexed. Looking at the screen located at his right side, all connections were cut off, save for the West Watchtower.

Pressing the button on the lower right side of the screen, it attempted to reconnect, which was unsuccessful. "Come on, come on..." He pressed it again, with it having no luck again.

"Damn it!" Carbon shouted, before turning around. There was a HAZMAT/flame retardant suit and a H56 Sauté lying down on the other side of the room. He wasn't a Hexagon Cleaner, but his rank was high enough to use the suit and the flamethrower.

Taking the HAZMAT, he opened it using the zipper at the front. After a few minutes of struggling, finally, he successfully wore the suit on. "Zephos, this gas tank is heavy!" He groaned, trying to keep the tank on his back.

"Okay, got the suit," Carbon said, before lifting the flamethrower. "Let's do this." He then went to the door, and opened it. The sun has already risen, and the land in front of him was devoid of life. Taking a step forward suddenly caused him to fall into an abyss, passing through the ground.

Carbon screamed, apparently falling to his doom. Suddenly, the HUD of the HAZMAT suddenly turned on, and showed him a large red triangle with an exclamation mark on the center.

"Warning, according to our recent readings, a supermassive black hole has collided with another black hole, causing large gravitational forces to ripple across this universe. Due to this strange phenomena, numerous Trans-dimensional Anomalous Rifts have sprouted across the universe.

Also, in accordance to Article LXVII - 52-B4, all atmospherical flight is temporarily banned, for our Agent's safety.

Please, avoid these hotspots marked on your screen for your own safety," a woman's voice spoke from Carbon's earpiece, before his HUD showed him the map of Vizor II's Castle Paris. About forty or more appeared from all around the Castle.

Apparently, Carbon had stepped into one, showing his location to be on top of a red spot in front of the CC.

"Goddamned computer, only bothering to tell me when I've already failed down the damned hole!" He said, slowly losing consciousness as he continued to fall endlessly on what seems to be a bottomless hole.

An unknown amount of time later...

"Agh, my Zephos damned legs." Carbon slowly stirred awake, finding no strength in his body. He felt that he was lying down on some soft thing. It wasn't a bed, however. It's...soil?

Quickly hearing a few high pitched noises caused Carbon to feel uneasy. He looked up, and saw three small children standing just feet away. They kept speaking in an unknown language, Carbon being oblivious to their speak.

One looked at him briefly, allowing him to see what it looked like. Carbon raised a brow. It's face was human, yet it's hair was made out of tentacles. It had these thick black outline surrounding it's eyes, and it was holding these weird guns that looked like oversized water guns. They had pointy ears, and spoke in a strange language.

Curious onto what they were saying, Carbon silently whispered, "Mainframe, activate translation drive." Hus screen flickered for a short while, before a loading bar on the right side of the screen sluggishly progressed, while on the left side, a small grid that was trying to decipher what the little humanoids were speaking.

After a few more seconds, the meter and the grid disappeared and suddenly, Carbon could then hear them clearly, with him now listening intently. "-nd that's why we should take the human back to New Inkopolis," the middle one said to her fellow people. He could tell was a girl, due to the pitch of her voice. Her longer tentacles compared to the other two also hinted him to her gender.

Carbon was confused by what they meant. "'Take me to New Inkopolis'?" He accidentally muttered in a volume high enough for the three humanoids to hear.

"Huh?" The left one looked at Carbon in suspicion.

While they couldn't see his face through the tinted glass of the HAZMAT suit, he can still probably get their attention through noise. They were now suspicious of him, taking out their weapons and pointing it to Carbon's head.

"I swear the human is awake," the right one spoke in a masculine tone. It looked like he tied his tentacles, too.

'I need to think of something...' Carbon thought. He then moved his head and groaned, giving the impression like he was just unconscious. They stared at him for a minute, before continuing their conversation.

"What about Chancellor Hydrous?"

'Chancellor Hydrous?' Carbon thought.

"He'll know what to do. But first, we need to figure out how to remove his protective clothing...and we can't do that without any tools at hand," the left one spoke, before glancing at me for a second. "Once we're done with him, he'll easily climb our ranks. I just know it."

"Heh, yeah." The one on the middle chuckled, "I think he'll be a rol-"

Carbon quickly stood up, looking at the trio. They were startled at his sudden movement, deciding whether to shoot him or subdue him. "Look, I-I don't want any trouble," Carbon stuttered, slowly reaching out for his Silencer. "Let me go, leave me alone, and let's pretend this never happened, alri-"

"Get him!" The middle one shouted, raising her weapon and pointing it to me. The other two followed suit, and began to fire globs of colored liquid at Carbon. Carbon quickly rolled to the left, and fired his weapon at the three aliens. The bullets were easily avoided by the aliens, liquefying in a flash before reappearing again from where they stood.

They glared at Carbon, looking at him with a cold-blooded stare.

"Shit." He turned tail, and started to run. 'Run, Carbon. Run,' he recited repeatedly. Jumping above rocks, ducking under branches, he desperately avoided the three aliens. After jumping down a steep slope, he suddenly felt a heavy object bump on his posterior. Looking back, he saw the H56 Sauté, apparently still hooked to his back.

"Yes!" He cheered, reaching the flamethrower behind his back. Turning the valve fully open, he pulled the trigger, spraying a gust of hot blue flame in front of him. Creating a massive wall of burning flora, he hoped that the aliens would cease to chase him.

Quickly turning around, he continued to run as fast as he could, hoping that the strange humanoids were impeded by the flames.


	2. Chapter One

Carbon ran for about half an hour, before he decided to stop. Exhausted, he decided to rest on a tree. There, he thought otherwise recent events that transpired here. "Where the hell am I?" He looked around, and saw nothing but trees. "Great, now I'm lost." He groaned, and closed his eyes, ready for slumber.

It was then he heard marching and singing nearby. He looked around, and cautiously went near and hid in the bushes. He saw a large patrol of those creatures, all with green tentacles, decorated in various ways. They held the same weapons, except for the front ones, which held rollers that printed green paint on the road. There were at least twenty rows, and two columns. Forty soldiers. It was a fucking battalion.

The front liners were holding large rollers, the second to seventh rows were armed with the same weapons Carbon saw when he first saw those creatures – oversized water guns. The eighth to twelfth row wielded more heavier weaponry, almost like rocket launchers. They were large, grayish blasters with a metal tip, and one smaller thing protruding from it. Must be where they aim their sights. Small, triangle things were strapped to their vests. The last rows were inklings of different colors, wielding some sort of red mini gun, with red ball-like things inside it's barrels. They sang a song, which sent shivers on his spine.

"What will we do with the captured humans? What will we do with the captured humans? What will we do with the captured humans, inside our city?" At the back, Carbon saw a bunch of humans locked up in archaic chains and binds. They followed the creatures to their inevitable deaths.

"He flails, and resists our changes. He wails, and resists our changes. He fails, to resist our changes, inside our city." Carbon paused. What did they mean by 'resist our changes?'

"Make his sanity, crack and throw him over. Make his sanity, crack and throw him over. Make his sanity, crack and throw him over, inside our city." He watched them, as they chanted the three lines.

"Making him a loyal Inkling warrior.

Making him a loyal Inkling warrior. Making him a loyal Inkling warrior, inside our city." Carbon's eyes widened.

"Inklings?" He whispered as he looked at the army.

He gripped his flamethrower and followed the platoons of inklings."Maintain the peace and order.

Maintain the peace and order. Maintain the peace and order, inside our city."

"Make them turn around, and fight their leaders. Make them turn around, and fight their leaders. Make them turn around, and fight their leaders, inside our city." He stopped as they halted, but they kept singing the song.

"Try and make them forget their old ways. Try and teach them to do our own ways. Try and teach to protect our own ways, inside our city." Carbon aimed the flamethrower at the front of the platoons.

The front Inkling called for a random human, and led him to the front. There, he knelt down and the lead creature brought a syringe filled with the same green goo. "He flails, and resists our changes. He wails, and resists our changes. He fails, to resist our changes, inside our city." Carbon stood up and fired a plume of fire at the Inklings as they readied to inject the man, startling them.

"Go, run!" He shouted to the prisoners as they stared at the unknown man. They nodded and ran as far as they can, while Carbon stayed and roasted most of the army.

"What in the?!" Someone in the army exclaimed. "Get the human!"

Carbon just held his H56 tight and spewed hot blue flame into the forest. Most of the trees caught fire, and most of the army disappeared. Atleast seven were left standing after the ambush.

Carbon hid behind an upturned log, and readied his knife. He looked up, and saw an inkling charge at him with it's roller. Carbon waited, and waited..

Until it jumped the log. Carbon quickly grabbed one of its legs, making it fall to the ground. Before it even had the time to react, Carbon instantly dug his knife unto the skull of the Inkling.

Only for it to pass through.

"What the fuck?!" It went into its squid form, and glided along the ink trail it had made. Carbon was then knocked down as something hard hit him at the back of his head. He reached it and wiped it off from his suit. He looked at his hands, to see that they were shooting green ink at him.

Harmless.

He grabbed his flamethrower and jumped over the log, while he shot massive clouds of fire unto the inklings.

A second later, someone jumped on Carbon, knocking them both down.

"Shit!" He cursed as he looked at his attacker.

"For the Order!" It said as it held it's weapon and slammed it at Carbon's head, knocking him out.

He woke up later, and felt like he was being dragged on the ground. He felt nauseous, and his head ached severely. He looked up, and saw two inklings holding his arms. Two more followed, guarding him. "Hey, Psalm." The green one spoke, and assuming by it's voice he's male.

"Hm?" Another inkling spoke, away from his field of vision. He recognized a female voice.

"You think this human can understand us? This one seemed to know what we were talking about. Also, he fought like he was scared. Most humans we encounter fought due to anger and fury." He said as he looked at Carbon, which smiled nervously back at him.

"No way, humans are dumb. They couldn't even recognize who's male or female!" She laughed, remembering a memory. "What we do know, is that humans speak an ancient language spoken by those who came before us back in Inkopolis, you know?" She paused. "Ancient Inkling?"

"Ah, so that's why their language was so familiar." The green one laughed. "I bet he can't even recognize what I'm saying." He went to the front of Carbon and did a little dance to mock him. He pulled out his tongue and mocked, "You're in chains, you stupid animal!" He laughed. Carbon just stared at him. "See? Just a simple minded, dumb anima-"

"Who you calling an animal, freak?" Carbon snapped back at him, causing them all to jump in shock.

"I..you..understand…" The green one sputtered as he pointed his finger at Carbon.

"Freak human!" An inkling shouted and started to run away. A loud crack echoed through the forest next, and it was knocked back. It lied limp on the grassy floor as a pool of orange ink started to form beneath it. Carbon looked at it and saw a large gaping hole on its forehead.

Carbon stared at the lifeless inkling and muttered, "What the fu-" Another crack echoed, and another one fell down.

"It's the Hunter!" The green one shouted, and ran towards the deep, thick foliage. The remaining inklings scattered as well, running for their lives. The last one there grabbed Carbon by his head and said, "Good luck trying to survive, human." She smiled, and ran away.

A rustling in the bushes followed next, headed towards Carbon. He slowly backed away, eyes fixed on the bush. He scooted, his limbs still fixed to each other.

Another human emerged from the bush. He was wearing a green camouflage cloak, a gas mask and mountain boots. He held a modified M40A3 at his hands, colored to suit the forest environment.

"Hmhm. Mmmph, mmhmph." His voice was muffled by his mask. He took off the mask and coughed. "Hello, name's Joseph." He was a man about thirty to forty years old, and he had a huge scar running through halfway his face.

"J-Joseph?" Carbon looked around rapidly. "Are there more of those Inklings?" He asked.

"I don't think so, no." He placed his mask back on his face. He gestured to Carbon to follow him. Carbon first doubted him, but eventually abided.

They walked through plethora of trees, and passed by multiple critters and small game. An hour of walking later, they arrived on a small hut, encased in a wooden wall in the middle of the clearing. A small moat was placed around the hut, and sprinklers sprayed water outwards and flowed back into the moat, creating an everlasting that can only be stopped when evaporated. "What are the sprinklers for?" He asked, while looking at the wooden wall surrounding the hut. The wall was tainted with multiple colored blobs of paint.

"Four years ago, I just learned that the squidlings-"

"Squidlings?" Carbon spoke, interrupting Joseph.

He looked at Carbon, and spoke again. "The creatures that captured you. After fighting them for five years, it's best that you name your enemy. You can't call them 'creatures' or 'aliens' forever." Carbon nodded in understanding. "Continuing, the creatures that captured you have a weakness to water. For some reason, the squids vaporizing in water." He snickered. "Ironic." He paused, then looked at Carbon. "I also noticed that you can understand them. Those fucking asses abused that language barrier, they can understand us, but we couldn't recognize a single damn word they would say."

"What exactly happened? Why did this happen?" Carbon asked, causing Joseph to go walk towards him.

He looked at Carbon, and asked, "No one suddenly appears in the forest wearing a tight suit, a gas tank behind him and multiple weapons strapped to him." He viewed Carbon at different angles. "Plus, you don't know anything in this damn world, of what those things are." He pointed at the forest. "You can also understand them, and they were scared of you." He grabbed Carbon by his suit. "Who are you?"

"I… I'm actually…" He smiled nervously. "How do I put this…" He cleared his throat, and spoke, "I'm not from here," He said.

"What, you from Alexandria? Ferrion? Azealia?" He asked, Carbon looked at his other hand, resting on a knife barely visible through his cloak.

"I'm from another world." He paused, recollecting his recent memories. "I think."

Joseph suddenly laughed wildly, he cackled for three minutes, with no signs of stopping. Another two minutes, and he finally simmered down. "Another world?" He wiped a tear that formed, barely hanging by his eyelids. "That's the best laugh that I've ever had since 2018!"

"2018?" Carbon asked. "Is that when the inklings invaded Earth?"

Joseph suddenly stopped laughing, and looked at Carbon. "Earth? No, this planet's called Paraline." He took a chair, and tapped on it. "Take a seat, stranger. I'll tell you a story."


	3. Chapter Two

The sprinklers stopped working. "What the?" Carbon looked went outside, and saw a massive group of inklings charging towards the hut.

Joseph looked at the pipeline connecting the sprinklers to the water. "They've jammed it with a rock!"

"How the hell did they even do that?" Carbon asked. Joseph looked at him suspiciously.

"Maybe you did it!" He pointed a finger at Carbon.

"Woah, easy there! You saw me enter this house, we even told our stories!" Carbon said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." A pyramid shaped thing was thrown towards them, causing them to pause. "Hide!" They dove towards cover, as it exploded in a massive coat of pink ink. Joshua wore his gas mask back on and took his rifle.

"I'll hold them off, just go!" He said as he fired his rifle at an out of sight inkling. He pulled a hatch open, revealing a hidden exit. He tied a rope to a hook to secure the hatch open.

"You're coming with me!" Carbon said as he went to the emergency hatch, and gestured at Joshua to come.

"I.." He looked at the inklings, and back at Carbon. "I'm sorry." He cut the rope, closing the hatch.

"Joshua-" Carbon's voice was cut off as the hatch closed. Joshua looked back at the inklings, which were already outside the hut, trying to knock the door open.

He took his rifle and aimed at his head he hesitated at first, but closed his eyes. As the door burst open, he shouted, "Goodbye, you fucking aliens!" The sound of his weapon filled the hut and it's surrounding area.

Carbon heard the familiar bang of Joshua's rifle. He turned around, before shaking it off and continuing his way. "Goodbye, Joshua." He said as he continued through the small tunnel, navigating his way.

A few minutes, and a lot of twists and turns later, Carbon saw the light of day, or the light of night again. He carefully climbed out of the hole, it's exit covered by leaves and branches so as to hide it from nearby inklings. He grunted, as he tried to pushed himself out, but his hips were stuck against the very small opening. "Ah, fuck."

He decided to dig his way out, chewing away at the soil slowly like a tooth cavity. Several minutes later, he finally dug out of his small prison. "Yes!" He exclaimed. His stomach growled, causing him to look at it and place a hand. "When did I last eat?" He said as he looked around, scouring the landscape for any animals, edible plants, or even dead inklings. If they're edible.

He checked the plants, and found berries. He took three of those berries and looked at them in his hand. There, he noticed that there were small, faint colors swirling in the berries. He was enthralled by it for a moment, before shrugging and throwing the berries away. "Not a chance."

He slowly went forward, in a crouched position. Trying not to make any noise at all, he took his SL-12 and gripped it tightly with both his hands. There he heard a slow rhythm of hard hoof-like steps on the ground. He peeked through the bushes, and he saw a deer, nursing her fawn. "I'm sorry for this." He aimed at the deer's head, took a deep breath, and slowly put his shaking index on the trigger. Shaking somewhat violently, he felt something keep him from shooting the deer. Was it regret? Sadness? No, it was another inkling.

Next to the deer, was a sitting inkling. It's blue tentacles was formed like braided hair. She caressed and petted the small fawn, with it gleaming happily.

'Should I shoot, or should I flee?' Carbon thought of each consequences, but who should he take heed? He was hungry, he needed to feed. But was he easily overtaken by greed?

He decided for another time, that he should let the deer go. Just joking, he knocked it down with a large rock and a strong throw.

With that rock, the deer stumbled. The fawn's heart instantaneously crumbled.

The inkling stood up, and looked around. "Who the hell did that?" She pulled out her abnormally large water gun cannon. She looked at the fawn, with was nudging its mother as tears fell from it's eyes. She bit her lower lip, while trying not to cry as well. "I'll kill you!" She shouted, and fired her ink everywhere. Carbon was almost hit by the ink, two grazing him, almost hitting his suit.

He moved, slowly, in a prone position while keeping an eye at the enraged inkling. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck." He muttered as he saw the inkling get closer to him. He stayed still, while lying on the ground. They were at least half a feet away, one more step from the inkling and she might know where Carbon is.

He looked at the inkling's feet, she was wearing blue sneakers, as she moved around frantically, searching for poor Carbon. Eventually, the inkling left, leaving the fawn and mother behind. "Finally."

He lifted his Silencer, and aimed at the animals. He pulled the trigger, causing the fawn to drop dead on the floor. He stood up, and stood beside the mother. She weakly lifted her head, looking at the fawn. She then looked at Carbon, then emitted a soft, weak cry. He stared at the deer for a while, before shaking his head and pointing the SL-12 at her. "Numquam misericordia," he said as he pressed the trigger of the Silencer once more, killing the deer.

He grabbed the deer and carried it on his shoulder, and headed back to where he first emerged in the forest. The clearing.

Surprisingly, it was close to Joshua's hut. He took some wood, and piled it up. Using his flamethrower, he used the flame to carefully light the fire. he then went to the deer and took out his knife. He looked at the deer, before getting back to work.

* * *

"Carbon…" A soft voice called to him in the deep void.

"Huh? Who the hell said that?" He looked around, and found nothing but a void of darkness.

After a few minutes, a stone platform slowly formed below Carbon's feet. It filled the void as it became larger and larger, until there was nothing to be seen but an endless platform of stone. He walked around, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. "This is a dream. I know it." He then smiled and covered his eyes, both his two index and middle fingers pressing against his temples. "Hnng!" He concentrated and quickly turned around. "My fiancée!" He pointed at a turquoise inkling, standing right next to him. He jumped backwards, his hands covering his face. "You look nothing like my fiancée!"

"Indeed, I am not. My name is Minerva, and I came here to your subconscious to tell you." She went closer to Carbon, her face almost touching the side of his head. He sweated like mad, his body trembled, and his eyes looked like they were going to pop out.

"Save my people." She said as she playfully bit Carbon's ear.

* * *

Carbon woke up, sick and disgusted. He quickly ran towards the nearest bush and vomited. "Sweet merciful Zephos, what the hell was that?!" He shouted as he wiped the remaining bile off his face.

He suddenly felt nauseous and stumbled down to the ground. His vision doubled, and he crawled towards the bush. He bumped into someone, so he looked at it.

It was the same person he saw in his dream. She knelt down and said, "I'm counting on you, Carbon." He stood up, and disappeared from sight.

He was suddenly free of his conditions and he stumbled on the ground, his consciousness slowly drifting away once more.


	4. Chapter Three

Carbon crawled to the deer he caught yesterday. He looked inside the deer to see it's blood having splotches of psychedelic colors floating around. "So this is how inklings indoctrinate." He said before vomiting again in a bush.

He stood up, wore the HAZMAT suit and started to walk to a random direction. "Maybe I'll find some other humans, too."

He passed through the forest with ease, danger keeping itself away from hi- "A fucking tiger!?" I spoke too soon.

Carbon took his SL-12 and held it. The tiger went into a pouncing stance and growled at him. "Fuck.. What would Silicon do in a situation like thi-" He was caught off guard, and the tiger decided to pounce at him.

"Get away from me!" He said as he held the tiger's neck, preventing it from biting his. It's claws swung around, trying to knock Carbon's arm out and get it's kill. Carbon struggled to get the SL-12, which was knocked down by the tiger when it had pounced at him.

He reached for the Silencer, and tried to grasp it, but failed. The tiger managed to knock down his arm. Acting quickly, he rolled to the right, and grabbed the Silencer. He pulled the trigger, releasing a never ending barrage of ammunition into the tiger. Well, until he lost ammunition.

He looked at his left arm, bruised and maybe even broken. He took some long sticks and some leaves, and formed a basic splint. He attached it to his arm, and slung his Silencer on his shoulder. He continued his way, looking out for any predators thinking about making him their lunch.

He then found a nearby town. Overjoyed, he ran towards civilization. But as he got closer, he noticed that the people looked a bit odd. He slowly started to doubt his decision. He turned around, only to see a bunch of newly arrived inklings patrolling the perimeter. "Fuck." He said to himself and decided to go towards the town.

He jumped from bush to bush, tree to tree, tall grass to tall grass, although he never found a Weedle. He finally got to the village, and just as he thought, was full of Inklings.

The town was blooming. Stores were open, children were playing, inklings were walking around, just like the old days. He then suddenly felt a vibration on his right arm. "Hm?" He pulled his arm out of the suit and found his arm computer, the Infinity, still attached to him. "I forgot we all had these!" He said, and powered the computer. It's blue screen lit up, and a symbol appeared on the screen. It loaded, until it finally turned on. It said that it had found two unknown signals, one inside this town, and the other one a bit far away. He put the Infinity to sleep before continuing to the signal. Carbon sneaked, jumped and hid on the way to the signal, which was said to be in a house at the northern side of the town. He scanned for more information about the world he was in, but it failed. He decided to shrug it off and go to the house that was emitting the signal.

He hid behind an alleyway, and peeked out, and saw multiple armed inklings roaming around. "Security just got tighter. What the hell is even happening?" He said, before turning around and walked towards a ladder that granted access to the rooftops, before tripping on some alley cats, knocking down a bunch of empty garbage cans, and flinging a garbage bag to a nearby stall that sold fruits. He took a newspaper that was covering most of his face, revealing to him a bunch of angry inklings. "Ah, fuck."

"Get that human!" They shouted as he quickly stood up and ran towards the ladder. He climbed as quick as he could. The armed inklings, and some of the bystanders themselves aimed their ink blasters to Carbon. "What's that going to do to me, paint me alive?" They parted, revealing an even larger launcher directed towards him. "Ah, fuck." He said, as they fired a large ball of ink to him.

He dropped a few bars to avoid the ball of ink, but as he grabbed the bars with his right hand, he grunted in pain. "Right, broken arm." He hastily climbed to the top, he then wheezed and coughed. He stood up, clutching his arm, and ran. He jumped from roof to roof, avoiding ink from his right side. He then got closer to a building more taller than the one he's on, so he ran faster, and jumped. Heading for the window, he hugged his knees and prepared for impact.

He smashed inside, knocking down some tables and chairs. He ran again, clutching his arm as he knocked down inklings that came his way. He jumped, ducked, and slid through tables, chairs, counters and guards as he went towards the signal.

"All nearby inklings, divert all available squidpower to the central area! We need as much as we can get! This human is heavily armed and dangerous!" A voice boomed throughout the city. "Suspect wears a ivory colored protective suit that covers his entire body, with several weapons strapped to him. He has not yet used his weapons, but we are not waiting for that to happen!"

Ink ranging from every color flew from every direction, some almost hitting Carbon, but staining his suit. It was like paintball, but more intense.

Paper flew upwards as tens of hundreds of rounds were fired, the entire office floor turned into a massive battlefield. Carbon still continued to run, never resorting to his weapons.

"Just a little more." He said as he neared the other side of the building. He jumped off the window without looking, and fell on hard concrete. He rolled, minimizing his injuries, but it still hurt like fuck.

He limped, as he sprained his ankle. He headed for the lone building, his arm trying to reach it, before passing out due to exhaustion and pain.

"He's awake!" Carbon heard a female voice as he slowly stirred into consciousness. "Marie, come quick!" Carbon tried to get up, but he was stopped by a hand as it gently pushed his head back. "Don't worry." He slowly regained sight, first he saw a blurry double vision. But it slowly refocused. There, he saw two inklings, one with long black tentacles and one with short gray ones. His smile diminished, as he realized where he was and he was in their mercy.

"You're in safe hands." They said and smiled as he slowly went back to sleep.

Author's Notes:

(Hi mom, I'm in the story!)

Hello, and welcome to On My Own!

If you're reading this, it means that you've actually read my story! (Or that you just skipped the last two chapters. You cheeky little di-)

Anyways, thanks for reading and have a good day! If you have any questions, you can ask in the review section on my story.

Don't worry, I won't bite. (Often.)


	5. Chapter Four

"You're in safe hands." A familiar voice whispered to his ear. A large mouth appeared beside him, smiling widely as it slowly vanished.

"Minerva!" Carbon shouted as he shot up from his slumber, cold sweat beading down his forehead. He looked around, trying to find out where he was. Suddenly remembering his encounter, he got out of bed and reached for his weapons. Only to find out that those were gone. All was left of him was his official uniform, ceremonial gloves, combat boots and his boot knife.

"My boot knife!" He bent down, and checked his boots. "Also gone." He said, frowning. "Fuck, I can't understand a single word they say without my suit." Shortly afterwards, he heard a couple of footsteps headed for Carbon's room. "Fuck!" He headed for the bed. Diving to the sheets, he positioned himself in less than three seconds.

"-old you, he's different!" Carbon instantly heard a high-pitched gurgles as the door opened.

"If he attacks us, I will not hesitate to tell you, 'I told you so.'" Another one spoke.

"But isn't it great! A human for a friend! Think of all the possibilities!" Carbon just lied down on the bed, awaiting their actions.

"Yeah, what would the others think, Callie." Carbon then heard footsteps nearing towards him.

He stiffened, each step he heard made his heart skip a beat. Seconds became hours as the inkling drew near to Carbon.

"Uh.. Hello, mister human?" Carbon then felt someone poke him at the back of his neck. "Hellooo~!" She kept poking Carbon, at different areas.

Carbon was not ticklish, but her poking made him extremely uncomfortable. He slightly flinched every time she poked him. It also slightly annoyed him that he didn't understand what they were saying.

"Give it up, he's not waking up. He's probably dead by now, that was a steep fall." Callie exhaled sharply. She paused for a moment before speaking.

"I wonder if I bite him?" Callie asked.

"Please, don't," Her unknown companion said.

Carbon felt the hot breath of Callie get closer at his arm. He breathed heavily, preparing to bite. Carbon's sweat instantly fell through his forehead, with him struggling to stay still.

Carbon shivered, and shook violently. He was expecting a sharp pain on his arm, but it never came.

"Yeah, I guess that wouldn't work." Callie said as she pulled back. Carbon then emitted a deep sigh of relief...which was heard by the two. "He's awake! Didn't you hear him Marie? He exhaled!" Carbon could tell that Callie was shaking Marie violently.

"Stop it. Maybe he just... took his last breath or something." Marie rebutted.

And so, the poking began again. "I don't know, I think he's still alive." Callie then placed her entire hand on Carbon's face, covering his cheek and some of his ear. "He's warm!" She then jumped to Carbon's back, and hugged him. "And soft and squishy too!"

Carbon was trying his best to ignore the two inklings. This was a battle, with him on the brink of defeat. One more and he will fall like a lea- "Marie, do you have a feather?"

A few minutes later, she came back with a feather on her hand. She stood next to Carbon as he prepared himself for the incoming attack.

A moment later, and here came the onslaught. Every minute was a brutal battle that would determine if Carbon lived or died. It was a losing battle, but Carbon still stood his ground.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle~!" She said in a singsong voice. Carbon went blue as he held back his fit of laughter. He prayed to Zephos that she would end this torture, but it just made things worse. "Marie, get me more feathers!" She shouted, making Marie sigh.

The tickling stopped, giving Carbon some time to breathe. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, and waited for the next barrage.

He then heard two pairs of footsteps getting closer to him. "C'mon Marie, let's go wake him up!"

Carbon immediately shot up, hands raised above his head. "I give up! Please, no mo-" His sudden movement made the couch overturn, knocking him to the ground. "Ow." He said as he winced in pain.

Callie gasped loudly as she saw Carbon still alive and kicking. Marie just slowly shook her head while she watched the scene unfold. "I knew it! He's still alive!" Callie zoomed in extraordinary speed towards Carbon and started shaking his hand rapidly. "Hello, my name is Callie Cuttlefish, what's your name?"

"You know the human can't understand us, right?" Marie said as she gestured to the confused human.

"Oh, I know! But isn't it fun if he could understand us?" She paused. "Oh, what if we speak in Ancient Inkling!"

"That's actually a good idea!" Marie looked at Carbon, which was huddled in the floor. "If you actually know how to speak in Ancient Inkling."

She smiled. "I know how!" She went closer to Carbon, and sat down. She cleared her throat, and spoke, "Hay-loe! I am Cayh-lee." She paused, checking to see if her words were correct. She nodded before speaking again, "What's yooure naym?"

"If you wanted me to understand you, you could just hand me my suit back. All I can still hear are multiple gurgles and other shit." Carbon's quip made Marie snicker, while Callie just frowned.

"The professor makes it sound easy." She said, as she looked at the suit.

She stood up, and stormed towards the HAZMAT suit. She stared at the suit for a couple of seconds, hesitating. "Don't worry, if you think that I'm going to hurt you with that suit, you thought wrong." Carbon said, Making Callie doubt him even more. She stood there for a few minutes before shrugging it off and took the suit.

"Here you go!" She said, happily. Carbon grabbed the suit and started to wear it, while the two cousins watched him up close. "Is this how humans clothe?" Callie asked, turning to her cousin.

Marie just shrugged, and looked at Carbon. "Humans are weird." She said, making Callie nod in approval.

Carbon fitted the suit, and activated it. The suit pressurized, making it fit Carbon perfectly. "Mainframe, enable translation protocols."

The suit's HUD lit green, and he spoke, "Try to speak to me now." He said.

"Oh, my name is Callie! Her name is Marie! We're the Squid Sisters!" They did a pose, which made Carbon snicker. "Can you understand us now?"

"Yeah," He pointed at the one with the black tentacles. "Callie." And the one with the gray ones. "Marie."

Callie gasped. "He can understand us!" She said, jumping wildly. Carbon chuckled at the display.

He then realized something. He looked out the window, checking what time is it. "It's nighttime already?" He said, scratching his head.

"Yep. You were asleep for too long, Marie thought you were dead!" She said, while looking at Carbon with childish interest.

Carbon looked at his suit, only to find it completely devoid of weapons. "Where are my weapons?" He asked.

"We won't give them to you until we know that you won't kill us," Marie said.

"Yeah, dying is bad," Callie added as she looked at Carbon.

"Okay, I promise I won't shoot you, or hurt you, or kill you, or maim you, torture you, electrocute you… What else?" He said, thinking to himself.

"I can accept that." Callie said, and added more. "But you need you let us join you on your travels."

"What?" Carbon looked at Callie. "Why?"

"We secretly despise the Order." Marie said, while Callie butted in.

"Also, they're too loud and bossy," She said. "This was not the Inkopolis I knew." She sniffed. "I miss Splatfest."

Carbon sighed. "Fine."

Author's Notes:

(Is this correct?)

The main reason why I made this story is because a friend on the internet dared me to create a story in which the plot takes place in a game or story I knew nothing about. Since the first thing I saw was 'Splatoon', so I decided to head on from there. So please, if you see any OOCs, errors, or even grammatical mistakes (English is not my native tongue.), please notify me. I want to make this story as accurate as I can.

Thank you.


	6. Chapter Five

Carbon and the two Inklings planned their way out of the town. The town of Corpus was heavily guarded, due to a skirmish happening in the far southwestern part of town. In every street, there were inklings patrolling. The sewers were closed, because what use is a sewage pipe for a species that disintegrate instantly when in contact with water? This was a tricky one, even for Carbon.

"Oh, what if we dig our way out?" Callie suggested.

"We can't, the tunnel will collapse with us in it as we dig the first meter. Learned that by experience." Carbon said, as shivers ran through his spine, remembering a past memory.

"Then what should we do?" Marie asked, while she played with a coin on her hand. She sat on a chair, while resting her head on a dusty, rickety old table.

"Do you have a map of the town?" Carbon asked, while he thought of a plan.

"No, but I can draw one. Wait here." Marie stood up, and went to another room.

Carbon thought for a moment, what were they going to do? Every part of the town was guarded. Sentries were posted everywhere. There was little to no chance of escape, unless there was a major distraction.

"Here you go." Marie handed a crudely drawn map of the town of Corpus, written on the back of a small calendar.

"Cool, thanks." Carbon said, and stared at the map.

Forty minutes passed, and Carbon was still on the process of making a plan. Callie and Marie came and go, doing tasks to alleviate their boredom. They seldom chat, due to it usually ending in an argument. They were beginning to feel sleepy when suddenly, Carbon began to speak.

"Okay, I've formulated a plan." The two inklings went closer to Carbon, listening to his plan. "First, we need to form a distraction on the eastern part of town. There-" He pointed at the house they're currently in. "-we head straight to the west, hide from any patrols, and escape." He paused, and said, "But someone has to make the distraction."

"I'll do it." Callie stepped closer.

"No, I'll do it." Marie said, pushing Callie away.

"No, for once in my life, I'll be serious! I'll do it!" Callie replied back, shoving Marie away.

"Fine, you do it." Marie said, smirking at Callie.

Callie paused, before looking back at Marie. "I suppose you're much more qualified to do this. You do it."

"No, you do it!" Marie snapped back at Callie.

"You do it, you said so yourself!"

"That was before you volunteered!"

"I did not!"

"Yes you did!"

"Well, you were the first one to say it!"

As the two argued, Carbon noticed a commotion outside. Inklings ran away from something in the northeast, which looked like black silhouettes. The black objects got closer, and that was when the guards charged at the objects. They started firing at the shadows, which in turn returned fire at them. It was then Carbon realised what was happening.

"There's a war going on, and we're kilometers away from the battlefield." He muttered under his breath.

His eyes widened, and he ran towards the still bickering cousins. He grabbed Marie and Callie by the shoulders, and shouted, "Can't you see what's happening outside?"

"What?" They said simultaneously.

He grabbed their necks and carried them to the window, showing them the firefight outside. "There's a war going on, and you two are arguing!"

"But we wer-" Callie said, but Carbon stopped her.

"Do you want to die?" Carbon asked, sternly looking at Callie in the eyes.

"No, but-"

"Do. You. Want. To. Die?" Carbon asked once more.

"No!" She shouted, tears now forming on her eyes.

Carbon dropped them, and pointed at the door. "Let's go, before we meet some of those soldie-"

A man wearing tactical gear opened the door, and instantly noticed the Inklings. He aimed his weapon, and fired.

Carbon jumped, pushing the cousins out of the way. He led them to a upturned table, and hid there. "Where are my guns?" He asked, gritting his teeth.

Marie pointed at the box on the other side of the room. Carbon face palmed. "Of course."

"Foxtrot Six-Four, we got an unidentified individual assisting the enemy, permission to fire?" The soldier asked, making Carbon's eyes widen.

"Any friend to the enemy, is an enemy to the state. Proceed." The voice was clearly heard.

"Understoo-" Carbon jumped from cover, and ran towards the soldier. He tackled him, causing them to fall down. "What the fuck?!" The grunt exclaimed, still frozen from the sudden attack.

"I'm an enemy to both sides now, thanks to your big mouth!" He grabbed the soldier's head, and slammed it to the linoleum floor. He went unconscious, his shallow breathing and bleeding head indicated that he would die when not treated immediately.

"Should he help him?" Marie asked, while Callie still hid behind the doorway, peeking occasionally.

"Hm.." Carbon grabbed the soldier's foot and dragged him to the entrance of the house. He threw his body outside, and left him there. "Problem solved." He then went inside the room they were in, and went to the box. He opened it, revealing five different weapons and the Infinity.

"Boot knife, SL-12 Silencer, two P128 Spectres, Flamethrower, and the Infinity." He put the weapons to their separate places, and struck a pose. "What do you think?" He asked, smiling behind his mask.

"You scare me." Callie said.

"You look ridiculous." Marie said.

Carbon sighed, and grabbed the two Spectres. He each gave them one, and he went to the front of the building, and looked back at the Inklings. "You all ready?"

"How do you use this again?" Marie asked, toying with the gun.

"It's like the Splattershot!" Callie said, holding the gun in her hands. "Put your finger inside this little hole here, aim, then pull the trigger!" She fired at the wall, causing someone to scream.

"They've- they've got a sniper! I've been hit, I need medical assistance!" Someone shouted from outside.

"Whoops." Callie said, looking at the gun.

"Well, now we know they're still outside." Carbon commented. He peeked out the window, and saw several soldiers in groups of three patrolling the town. "Fuck." He sat back down, and said, "Alright. None of us is getting out of here unless we work together." They nodded.

"They're in groups of three. We are three. We shou-" Carbon was suddenly interrupted by Callie.

"Oh, oh! Should we dress up like them, and escape?"

Marie smirked, and slightly shook her head. "He probably meant killing them all at the same time."

"We can get killed when we do those things!" Carbon said, before he took a deep breath. "Callie, throw a rock to that metal plate. The sound will alert some of the soldiers. They will come and investigate, and we charge to that house over there. We hide. We then go to the back of the house, climb out the window, and run towards the forest."

"That's an even worse idea than ours!" They said, simultaneously again.

"The dressing up part is impossible. Both of you are too small, and your tentacles will just give us away. The kill everyone part has a chance to work, but if reinforcements come, we're run directly to the forest. Deal?" They both nodded.

"Okay, ready…" They held their weapons to head level. "Steady…" They looked out the window, while Carbon grabbed his SL-12.

It was then he heard metal feet clashing with the ground. He peeked out the window, and saw a man riding a small metal suit that had guns on both it's arms. "Never mind. Those guys have a metal suit. We'll be shredded to pieces even before we fire the first round."

"Then what do you think we should do?" Callie asked.

"We wait." Carbon said, looking at the sky, the sun now nearing twilight.

It's nighttime now, and the army is still outside. "Town has reported no action after eight hours of monitoring. Heading back to base." Most of the agents went away, headed to the east, while some stayed behind.

"Hey, wake up." He slightly shook Callie and Marie, which were dozing off on each other's heads.

"Huh, wha?" Callie said. waking up from her slumber.

"What time is it?" Marie asked, still half asleep.

"I have no idea, But judging from the moon's location, it's probably… Two o' clock in the morning."

"You woke us up in two in the morni-" They both shouted, making Carbon cover their mouths.

"There are still soldiers outside. If you want to die, go ahead. I woke you up because most of them left. This is our best–if not our only chance to escape."

They looked at each other, before asking, "What's the plan?"

Carbon smiled. "We run."

They burst out the door, alerting three guards into their position. "Fuck!" One fell to the ground after tripping down a root. "Everyone, I am in pursuit of three aliens! I am in the east portion of the town, looks like they are headed for the forest!"

Carbon and the two ran, jumping over tables and other stuff like that. Suddenly, shots were fired. Bullets came from every direction as they charged through the forest.

"Fuck! We lost them!" The soldier grabbed his radio. "Echo, watch out for three squids."

"They're headed your way."

"Looks like we lost them." Marie said, as she sat down on an upturned root.

"Yep." Callie said, while looking around. "Hey, where's the human?"

"Right here!" Carbon said, limping towards the two.

"Are you okay?" Callie immediately ran towards him, while Marie helped him walk towards a tree.

"Yeah, a bullet went through my leg." Carbon said, while grunting in pain. He looked at the wound, still bleeding.

"I have a handkerchief." Callie gave him the cloth. Carbon muttered a thanks as he wrapped the wound with the cloth and secured it tightly.

"Now, let's move. We don't want anymore-" Carbon paused as he saw a red dot floating on a tree.

"Ooh." Callie said, apparently intrigued by it. She set out to touch it, but Carbon immediately pulled her away.

"Don't you go to that dot!" Carbon said, as he looked around. "They're here."

They sat behind the tree, waiting for the military to go away. But they thought otherwise. "Echo to Foxtrot, we see nothing here but trees and foliage. We've already searched the area thrice."

"They might've disappeared again. I've seen them do it before. Just be vigilant. Chances are they're still in the area." 'Foxtrot' replied, unaware that they're literally under their noses. They sat behind the fallen log, looking at the unaware soldier.

"Roger." 'Echo' said, as he grabbed his weapon again and walked away.

"Phew." Callie said, as she let out a small chuckle.

"He never knew we were underneath him." Marie said, as she smiled.

"Well then, unless we want them to see us, we should get going." Carbon said, as he walked away.

It took them two hours to venture to the other side of the forest. Lucky for them, nothing decided to jump out from the thick foliage.

"Woah." Callie said, as she first emerged from the forest. Carbon followed next, then Marie.

They stood on a hill, overlooking the horizon. They looked around, and saw a number of locations. They saw multiple towns, lone buildings, a ruin close by, and a faraway desert.

"So, what should we do next?" Callie and Marie asked, looking at Carbon.

 **ACT ONE END**

\--Author's Notes--

End of Act One!

Sorry the act and the chapters are too small, I'll try to slowly add more words every time I make a new chapter.

Also, thanks for the positive feedback! For some of the discrepancies noted by ChiggerD, I'll show why in Act Two. (Or maybe I'll just make a separate story. Who knows?)


	7. Act Two - Chapter One

Carbon slowly looked around, admiring the amazing sights he saw before him. He sat down, and took a deep breath. "It's great to actually go outside and admire sometimes. I mean, look at this view!" He smiled at the sight, while Marie stared at a cocoon with curiosity. Callie lied down on the grass, giggling softly as grass lightly brushes her skin.

"I must say, this world is beautiful." Marie said, as she let out an 'ooh' as the butterfly emerged from the cocoon, and shine it's wings in the ray of light. It moved around, then flew to a leaf. Unbeknownst to the butterfly, a mantis was nearby. As it landed, the mantis immediately grabbed the butterfly, and impaled it with one quick strike.

Marie frowned at the display. "It also has its dark sides, too." He looked back at Carbon, which was now covered in butterflies of multiple colors and patterns.

"No planet's perfect." He said, butterflies flew as he spoke, then landed again on his lip.

"I guess that's correct." Marie said, as she let a butterfly land on her index finger. It moved around, checking out it's new platform.

"I wish it could always be like this." Callie said, as she rolled around the grass.

"Well, the world always changes constantly. You need to adapt to the changes in order to live." Carbon said, as he stood up. He brushed some butterflies still stuck on his suit, and looked at them as they flew away.

"I know where we should go next." He said, as he looked at the crumbling building not that far away.

In his first week in Paraline, Carbon encountered many great things. Some of which are extraordinary. He recently learned, that the planet was overtaken by an alien species known as the Inklings. Obsessed with peace and order, they eliminated the humans, so as to extend their entire civilization. But not everyone agreed with the terms. The cousins, Marie and Callie, once famous singers from Inkopolis, decided to join Carbon and get away from the Order.

He then pointed at the ruins. "Let's go there next." Marie and Callie nodded, and walked towards the ruins. Carbon followed shortly after, holding his Silencer in case someone pops in for a visit.

"Hey Marie, Callie?" Carbon spoke, making the cousins look at him. "Why do you hate your own kind again?" He asked, somewhat unknowing about the cousin's past lives. Marie sighed, while Callie looked away. They were quiet, refraining to talk. "It's alright if you don't want to."

"No, it's just that it's painful. We even swore not to remember those memories anymore." Marie said, as she kicked a small rock, flinging it far away. "It's personal, you see?"

"Oh, alright then." Carbon said, as he looked towards the now nearing ruins.

A few more minutes later, and they reached the giant building. It's walls were dusty, cracked and covered with protruding vines. Callie knocked on the wall, and dust littered the surrounding area. She coughed, as she fanned the dust away from her face. "Are you sure that we should be going inside there?

"Who knows," He grunted as he pulled a vine out of the wall, revealing a lever. He pulled it, activating the building. Red lights flickered as the door opened with a hiss. "Maybe we could find some cool stuff inside there." The door fully opened, and stopped with a thud. He looked inside, and looked back at Callie and Marie. "Ladies first?" He smiled.

"Alright then." Marie said as she went to Carbon, and pushed him inside. They followed suit. "Lady." She said, as she smiled at Carbon.

"Oh, you cheeky little shit." Carbon said, as he followed Callie and Marie into the building. In front of them was a large structure, larger than the building outside. An entire complex of rooms, halls, walls, and laboratories was inside the building.

"How is this even possible?!" Callie said with a baffled look on her face, as she ran back to the entrance. She looked outside, then inside. "The inside is four- no, ten times bigger than the outside!"

"TARDIS technology?" Carbon said, as he looked around the complex with wonder filled eyes. "I thought only one organization has the technology to contain such power!" He said, as he examined the desks, the structure of the room, and the equipment. "Could it be?" He asked, and went to a nearby crate. It's print covered by a thick layer of dust. He blew on it, and wiped the remaining dust off, revealing a black crate with a white hexagon imprinted on it. "Yes!" He exclaimed, causing Callie and Marie to look at him.

They went to him with confused looks on their faces. "What is it?" He stood up, and looked around.

"I know this place." He said, euphorically.

Their eyes widened. "You've been here before?" They said in unison.

"What, no!" He shook his head. "I mean, this building was created by the Hexagon!" They tilted their head, signifying confusion. "I mean, this building was created by my group, organization, contingent, faction, whatever you call it."

He went to the dusty back crate and stared at it for a couple of seconds. "I can finally get back home." He smiled, as a tear fell down his eye. He started to run, making the cousins notice him.

"Hey, where are you going to?" Marie shouted, but Carbon just ran. She shrugged and the cousins followed him, deeper into the complex.

They finally catch up, and ran the same pace as Carbon. "What are you doing?" Callie asked, almost tripping to a crack.

"If I could just…" He took a turn, then a right, the two more rights, then a left. The complex was a maze, that the cousins were unfamiliar with. Losing sight of Carbon meant that they were alone, and will be left wandering the forsaken maze of rooms, desks and chairs. Carbon just ran, maybe towards something that means very important to him. After one last turn, he sprinted as fast as he could, towards a dead end.

"Aww, there's nothing here!" Marie exclaimed, stomping her foot to the metal floor, causing a loud clank.

"Just you wait, Marie." Carbon said, as he removed his suit and pulled the sleeve of his uniform. It showed his Infinity, unused but well. He waved his Infinity to the wall, causing it to open. The door slowly creaked as it opened. As the door opened wide enough, Carbon immediately went inside the warp room. There, he saw multiple skeletons still wearing their gear. "Hexagon." He muttered as he examined the skeletons to the left. "The Legion Force Republic?" He said, as he checked the skeletons to the right. "Could they have shot each other to death?" He paused, before speaking again. "No, there should be at least broken bones and blood stains. It looked like they died due to starvation or something." He then looked at the skeleton resting beside the warp pad. He knelt down, and looked at the skull. He saw a wide, gaping hole located on his forehead, possibly due to a bullet. He examined its teeth, which was very different from human teeth.

Three of the teeth are pointy, like an octopus' or a squid's. He stared at the skeleton for a bit, before standing up and looking around. "I think this is where the last people fought for their lives." He said to Marie and Callie, which were examining some of the buttons.

Marie looked up, and asked, "What even caused them to hide like this?" She leaned on a panel, accidentally pressing a button. Red lights flickered, and an alarm sounded.

"What the fuck?!" Carbon exclaimed, and looked at the door. "What did you do?"

Marie removed her hand from the panel, and looked at the striped yellow and black square button she pressed. "What does ehm-err-gin-cee lou-c-down mean?" Carbon immediately ran towards the dusty panel and looked at the flashing button.

"That's the emergency lockdown!" He looked out the room. "We're stuck inside here." He then heard metal falling to the floor, and other loud sounds. "And we'll soon find out why they hid inside this room." He looked outside, and gestured to the cousins to follow him. "Quick, run!"

They started to run back to the entrance. "What was it, a right, two straights, three lefts, two rights, and a straight?" He said, looking at the crossroads of rooms. "Ah, fuck it." He started to run in random directions. The Squid Sisters soon followed. They passed an open lab, with a bright light inside.

Suddenly, something pounced on Carbon. He fell down, and panicked.Callie screamed, alerting Marie to him. Without thinking, he turned around and kicked the attacker off him, knocking it back and giving Carbon time to run.

Marie took Carbon's hand and grabbed it. She ran, pulling Carbon away from the mysterious assaulter."What was it?" She asked, helping Carbon walk as he suffered from the effects of whiplash.

"I.. dunno. Ah di'nt shee it," He slurred, as he dizzily stumbled on the floor. He vomited, causing the two to get worried.

"What happened?" Callie asked, lifting his head. She opened his suit and checked his eyes, to see that one was dilated and one was not. "I think he had a concussion."

"Ah, thinke I mah'tve hit mah head on the floor." He said, before losing his balance and stumbling to the wall. He vomited once more, staining the wall. "Thake meh to the medic'l areuh."

"Where?" Callie asked, looking around for the room Carbon specified.

"I dunno what yer shaying, buth if yer thryin' ta findin' it, it'sh lookes like a room wifth a door wifth a red croshs on it." He said, smiling. He tried to take a step forward, but fell once more. "Owch."

Marie sighed. "C'mon." She carried Carbon, holding his right arm while Callie held his left. "A room with a red cross printed on the door."

"Ah'm, I'm gunnuh shleep fer a while." He said, yawning. "G'night, hunny." He smiled at Callie.

His little phrase made Callie blush. Her cheeks instantly turned red. She was slightly giggling at the man, but Marie suddenly punched him on the cheek. "Ow! Whazzat fer?!" Carbon slurred again, causing Callie to look at Marie.

"We need to let him stay awake," was Marie's only answer. A few minutes later, they finally saw the room Carbon specified and ran towards it. There, they lead Carbon to the medical area. "What do we need to do now?"

"Huh? We're here?" He said, looking around. "Alrighth, look fer a syringe felled wifh green lickwid." He went to a bed, and lied down there.

"A green syringe." Marie and Callie said, and started to look for the elusive syringe. They went through every cupboard, drawer, container and locker. After minutes of searching, they've found nothing.

"I see several pills, an injection with a print saying 'Panacea', some ice, but no green syringe!" Callie said, holding the items on her hand.

"I've no luck either. All I got were these first aid kits." Marie said, dropping the piles of red kits with white crosses on it.

"There's one more we haven't checked." Callie pointed at the compartment covered in opaque glass. A yellow text reading 'For Emergencies Only, Alarm will sound when broke.' was printed on it. "Maybe the syringes are in there!"

"But the alarm will sound off when we break it!" Marie said, as she looked at Carbon. He wasn't looking too good. He was breathing, but it was shallow. Blood began to slowly drip from his nose, and his eyes were lidded. She took a deep breath. "But we've no choice, haven't we?" Callie nodded. Marie inhaled, and formed a fist. She closed her eyes, and swung.

The sound of glass breaking filled the entire section, and the alarm came next. She opened her eyes, and she saw tens of syringes lined up neatly inside. She took one, removed the sterilization cap, and injected it on Carbon.

The green fluid was injected in a matter of seconds, before Marie removed the empty syringe. She looked at Carbon, who was still lying on the bed. "Is he gone?" Callie asked, with teary eyes.

Marie waited, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

But he never woke up.

"I think we're too late." Marie said, causing Callie to cry. Marie instantly went to Callie and wiped the tears off her face. "Don't worry." She embraced her, causing Callie to weep on her shoulder. "Why are you crying anyway? We just met him."

"We never even got to know his name!" Callie wept, as Marie rubbed her head. "I liked him. He was the only one who treated us like a person, and not as celebrities."

"So that's what you think of me?" They heard a voice coming from the bed. They turned around, to see Carbon alive and well.

"Yay! You're alright!" Callie jumped on Carbon, hugging him tightly. He was shocked by the sudden show of affection. He froze for a second, before deciding to return the embrace.

"Also, my name's Phillips. But most call me Carbon." He said, smiling at the cousins.

"Carbon suits you." Callie said, as she smiled back at him.


	8. Act Two - Chapter Two

Well, continuing our events in Chapter One, Carbon and his ragtag team of two inklings has gotten stuck in a mysterious facility that Carbon claims to have been an old building of his organization.

After further exploration, they discover more and more mysteries than what they had expected.

"How do we get out?" Callie asked, as Carbon wandered around the room, thinking for a solution.

"I have no idea." Carbon looked outside, to see the alarms were still turned on. He was about to look away, but saw a black shadow move outside. Bewildered, he decided to watch a bit longer.

It did not end well.

A disgusting mix of a human and inkling jumped to the window. It's head had multiple strands of black hair, scattered around the scalp. Most of it, however, were tentacles of some sort. One eye was lazy, always looking down. The other moved erratically. His arms, one was covered in green ink, while the other was covered in cuts and bruises. Blood still dripping from it. It's teeth, it looked like a squid's beak. Two large teeth on the top and one at the bottom. The mouth was excreting the same green ink found on it's arm. The eyes lightly glowed yellow, and it moved like a disabled man.

Surprised, he jumped back, landing directly on the bed. "Woah!" He shouted. "What was one of the best scares I've ever witnessed." He looked back at the door to see Marie and Callie stare at the creature.

"What are these?" Callie asked, placing a hand on the glass window. The hybrid looked at it, before placing his hand as well on the window. She stared at the eyes of the creature, and said, "I think he's in pain."

"Of course it is," Carbon huffed as he searched for a weapon, lifting a large table. "It's been bombarded with highly-ionized radioactive energy." He took out a small tile on the wall, revealing a bunch of S42A1 Shock Poles. "Yes!" He pumped his fist, and took three of the poles. "Catch." He threw the other two poles to the cousins, and they caught it.

"What's it for?" Callie asked, twirling it around like a twirling baton.

Marie on the other hand, is examining the buttons and switches on the pole. "What does this button do?" She pressed a big red button, making the pole's tip emit a loud snap. It glowed, and emitted a loud him as current flew on the tip. Sparks of high-voltage bolts of electricity dripped as it was activated.

"Lower the current, that way, it can regenerate its power and not just burn the battery in one go." Carbon instructed, turning his one on as well.

A loud thud came from the door. They looked at it, seeing that multiple hybrids were now trying to break in the room. "The door opens outward, you dumbasses!" Carbon shouted, confusing the creatures. They laughed, but unknown to them, one tried opening the door by using the doorknob. It pulled the door open, surprising Carbon and the cousins. "So they can understand English. Huh." As one went near to Marie, she smirked, and injected lethal waves of surging electricity in the hybrid. It vomited an amount of blue ink as it was electrocuted, covering Marie.

"Gross!" She said, removing it's ink from her body. The hybrid fell dead on the floor, leaking a large quantity of blood and ink.

"Callie, look out!" Carbon shouted, alerting Callie to a hybrid behind her. She ran towards the wall, jumped, and landed on the wall. She bended her knees, and propelled herself in extraordinary speeds to the hybrid. Her pole was impaled through the hybrid's head, cracking it and releasing ink and blood everywhere. She landed on the hybrid, and jumped on it. Releasing the pole still stuck in the hybrid's head, she did a backdrop and landed on the ground with a perfect landing. She grabbed the pole, and took it in one quick pull. She looked at Carbon with a smile, and winked.

Carbon smiled, and turned around. Three hybrids were left standing. He charged unto them, and jumped. Using the pole, he pinned them to the wall. He pushed the long stick to their necks, with them trying to remove it. They clawed and struggled, but with one final push, they went limp, as Carbon asphyxiated them.

"Now that's over with, let's find another way to escape." Callie and Marie nodded, and went out the room. Carbon looked at the green syringes, and went to them. He grabbed every single last one, and stuffed it inside his suit, with it having pouches for those specific syringes. He went out, to see Marie and Callie look at a large sized- "Behemoth!" Well, yes.

But I was actually going to say- "A huge-ass hybrid?!" Thanks, Carbon. They ran the opposite direction, avoiding the rampaging behemoth of a hybrid. It roared, causing the windows to break. Carbon and the cousins, ignoring the deafening roar, ran away. "We need to find a security room! That way, we can activate the security traps and lure the behemoth to them!" Carbon shouted.

"Are you sure, cause I'm sure that I don't want to get killed as well!" Marie yelled as she leaped over an upturned table.

"Don't worry, just stay in the room and you'll be fine!" Carbon answered back, as he slid underneath a half opened door. He looked back, only to see Behemoth smash right through it. "Fuck!"

They quickly ran to the left, causing Behemoth to overshoot. It slid a couple few meters until it stopped, then started his chase again. "Look for a room with a blue shield on the door!"

"Okay!" Marie and Callie shouted, while jumping over a bunch of different obstacles.

"You know, this reminds me of a game I used to play when I was a little child!" He chuckled, as he smashed through a large window, and rolled to the floor. The alarm sounded once more. "We need to stop these alarms, or those things will get more and more agitated!"

A few minutes of jumping, running and sliding, Callie spoke. "Carbon, how big is this facility?!" She shouted, as she slid under a large barricade, with a small hole underneath. Marie did so as well, but Carbon took another way.

"I can't fit in there!" He shouted, taking a detour through the cafeteria. He jumped, and slid over a bunch of tables, with some hybrids emerging from underneath them. He ran to the left, avoiding one. He then ran to the right, avoiding two. It was going well, until one grabbed Carbon by the foot. "Fuck!" He grabbed his pole and shocked the hybrid away from him. He then deactivated his pole and started to run again. The Behemoth suddenly emerged behind him, charging to him like a bull. "Of course." He said, as he ran towards the window. He jumped again, smashing right through. There, he collided with the cousins on the other side.

"Ow!" Callie shouted, as Marie yelped. They were both knocked to the wall. There, they looked around.

"Hey, that's the security room!" Marie said, pointing at the door with the blue shield.

"Nice!" Carbon opened the door, and looked outside. "Come in, quick!" He said, gesturing Callie and Marie to go in. They quickly went inside, and locked the door. Carbon flipped some switches on and pressed some buttons, making the screens turn on. The Squid Sisters 'ooh'd' in amazement as Carbon did something in the panels and control switches. The screens now viewed the security cameras outside the room's point of view.

"There it is!" Callie pointed at the screen, which shows the Behemoth charging through the hallway, knocking everything (including the hybrids) out of the way.

Carbon flipped some switches, turned the knobs, and a lever suddenly appeared, surprising the two inklings. "Cover your ears!" He commanded, causing the two to cover each other's ears. He pulled the lever, and looked at the camera. The lights went on, and small guns slid on the roof of the facility. It pointed at the Behemoth and started firing. It staggered it a little bit, but still, it didn't stop. He grunted, and flicked two more switches. More mobile weapons were deployed, and started firing at the Behemoth.

Still no effect.

He turned a knob, and flicked a switch, and pressed a button. A gate was activated, and a loud hum sounded. The Behemoth appeared, and crossed the gate, causing it to get electrocuted. It convulsed, shook, and groaned in pain. But still continued, albeit slowly. Carbon smirked, and turned the knob clockwise slowly. The current heightened, causing the fifteen foot tall Behemoth to stop in his tracks. Delivering the last blow, he took his Spectre, and went outside. Carbon stared at the Behemoth and it tried to reach him, but was slowed by the current.

"Not so tough, are you big guy?" The Behemoth just growled at Carbon, which smirked. He took his Spectre and pointed it at the Behemoth's head. "Goodbye, Behemo-"

"Carbon! Are! You! Okay!?" He heard Callie shout from the security room.

"Thanks for ruining the moment!" Carbon sighed. He looked at the Behemoth, which was somehow laughing at him. He pointed the Spectre and looked away, and fired at the Behemoth. Splatters of blood and ink (mostly ink) were spread to the floor. The gate was deactivated, releasing the Behemoth. It started to move, but the mobile guns started to fire at it continuously. It ceased to move after five minutes of being pelted with bullets, explosives, and electricity.

"Does this facility have an installed artificial intelligence?" Carbon shouted. Nothing answered. "Hm, must be automated."

He went back in the security room, turning off the defenses and calling Marie and Callie. "C'mon, let's go." Callie was checking out the computer, while Marie was looking at the armory.

"Hey, can we get some of these weapons?" She pointed at a long rifle, with streaks of purple lines running across it. Numerous attachments were placed on the rifles, making it more attractive.

"We can't, my security clearance isn't high enough to unlock that weapons locker. Plus, those weapons were designed for attacking organic matter." Carbon looked at the streaked rifle, before shaking his head. "C'mon, let's go."

Callie stood up and followed Carbon, and Marie looked at the rifle for a second, before running towards Carbon. "I feel like a father." Carbon said, causing the two to giggle.


	9. Act Two - Chapter Three

"Get it away from me!" Carbon screamed, as it's teeth ripped out bits of flesh from his arm. "Argh! Fuck!" He punched the creature, several times. He was getting exhausted, but the creature didn't even flinch.

"Move out of the way!" Carbon heard a woman's voice to his left. He looked in her direction, to see her charge towards Carbon with a plank of wood in her hands. She swings, in the direction of Carbon and the creature.

Two hours earlier…

"How do we get out?" Marie asked, expecting an answer from Carbon. He shrugged, shuffling down the dimly lit hallway, lighted only by emergency lights on the floor.

An ambush could happen anytime, so the group was watchful the entire time. Carbon gripped his SL-12, while the other two held a Spectre. They scoured the entire facility, looking for a way out. The ventilation system was a bust, having large fans at the bottom for added ventilation and for a deterrent all in one, it was too much risk for little reward. They planned to use it as a last resort.

The windows were entirely closed shut after their accidental activation of the lockdown procedure.

Digging is impossible, as numerous traps were installed underground, which may kill them when they activate it, or IF they activate it. The floor is made out of metals scarcely found on the planet, let alone the galaxy. It can withstand ten nuclear explosions, which explains the undamaged floor even after the Behemoth's rampage.

Which gives them two choices for escape.

One: The wall is made out of a different type of metal, two times weaker than the floor. Given a few years of deterioration, it has grown even more weaker. But, they still need something at least the power of a ton of dynamite in order to even bust a single hole in the wall.

The second one, was the emergency exit. Yes, somehow anticlimactic and a bit cliché, but it is literally the only way out that isn't affected by the lockdown protocol. But chances are, there will be more hybrids that they'll encounter if they go on to that route. The nearest exit is near the Experimental Bay, where the facility creates prototype weapons and gear. A possibility that there can be another Behemoth hiding inside this facility.

If they choose to break the wall, they would need a lot of explosives. But given the already crumbling facility, it is a possibility that it would collapse on them, and the Tachyon energy bursting out of the complex, creating multiple rifts and tears in the space and time around the complex in a radius of three-hundred kilometers, endangering life around it as we know it. Worst case scenario, the world get split in half due to the overwhelming energy of the generator.

If they choose the exit, they would risk a full blown horde on their tails. Witnessing the Behemoth's resistance to armor-piercing ammunition, explosives, and fire, it is a risky choice. But they would also pass the Experimental Bay, which could include a new weapon currently being designed in this facility.

The thing is, Hexagon Facilities have a unique weapon only seen in their sector. It is developed in the leading facility, and given to the agents in order to adapt to the world's dangers and risks. Seeing that Inklings are weak against water and fire, maybe the bay has a weapon already designed and created.

Crossing through the hallway, passing by the numerous boxes and crates crushed and destroyed for an unknown reason, the facility had an eerie atmosphere to it. Dried blood and ink were stained on the walls, and sometimes, you could hear some of the cries that the men endured in this godforsaken facility.

"Look lively, we're almost at the Experimental Bay." Carbon said, as he viewed at the boxes littered on the ground.

One could contain an unstable fusion of an inkling and a human. How were they even created, anyway?

Did the Hexagon do this to the world?

Looking back in the past, when Joseph was still alive, he directly told Carbon about a group with "extraordinary technology, unseen by people of Paraline."

Second, he also said that after the group left, "mutations shortly came that affected the people of the continent of Paraline."

Were they the cause of this whole madness? Did they create the inklings as a desperate act of victory? Knowing his leaders, they would definitely do that. In fact, they've already done it in the past.

Before the Third Great War, the Hexagon had created a pathogen that was designed to create mindless zombies from ordinary humans. They had named it, the Shroud. After a strain had leaked in a local river, it soon spread throughout the planet of Draego. They had abandoned it, as well as several agents in that dark planet.

In the First Sierran War, they had used a biological weapon that turned the inhabitants of the planet of Equinox into blood-thirsty monsters. It was deployed after the enemy had deployed their own trump card, the Serum.

The Serum was another biological weapon created by the enemy in order to cripple Hexagon armies by 'converting' the humans and turning them to themselves. Much like the Inklings, but the Hexagon was fighting an entire planet then.

Maybe the Hexagon got the idea of the Inklings from the event in Equinox.

Every war was a battle of military, strength, number and strategies. If the Hexagon was on the brink of losing, they can, no. They WILL create a biological or chemical weapon that will force the tide of war to their favor. The Hexagon was a dirty player, abiding by their own rules, they will use anything from indirect manipulation to all out warfare in order to achieve their needs.

The thought of the Hexagon leaving another one of their marks in this planet made Carbon feel a shiver in his spine.

They swept through another hallway, holding their weapons high, they searched for any surviving humans- if there are any left. Other than that, they're just watching out for hybrids that can attack them.

They neared the Experimental Bay, much to the joy of Carbon. "Finally, we can get out now!" He ran towards the large gate, and pressed the button. The gate slowly opened, until the power malfunctioned and it closed immediately. The steel gate smashed on the floor, emitting a very loud bang.

A deafening roar followed next behind the steel gate, and the ground shook as they awaited what was coming from the other side of the wall.

Author's Note:

(I think I'm missing something here...)

The Octarians...

Hm..

Well, I'm still planning this story on how will it go, so there's a chance that the Octarians will probably show in the story.

For the mean time, I have no idea.


	10. Act Two - Chapter Four

A loud thud was heard, as another large Behemoth hit it's fists into the gate. "Shit." A loud roar sounded from behind the reinforced steel gate, startling Carbon and the cousins.

Another thud, and the gate became dented. "Shit!"

He looked at the cousins, then at the gate as it sounded a loud thud again. The gate hung loose, one more knock and it will burst open.

"Get out of the way!" He ran towards the two inklings, which were staring at the gate with shock. He jumped, and tackled them, away from the gate as it flew towards them. The gate landed with a loud clang, and skidded across the hallway, emitting a gritting noise.

The large Behemoth slammed its fists into its chest, and sounded a large roar. "Oh, fuck!" It charged towards Carbon, which jumped to the left as it passed through.

"What do we do?" Marie asked, looking at the large Behemoth with fear. She held Callie close, as she looked at it with shock.

"You still have the pistol, right?" They nodded, looking at the Spectres as they examined it. "Then shoot! Shoot him!" He shouted at them, and rolled sideways to avoid the Behemoth once more.

The two cousins nodded and started to fire at the raging Behemoth. One bullet whizzed in front of Carbon, causing him to stumble and fall. The Behemoth lifted it's arms and got ready to smash Carbon. He rolled to the right, barely avoiding the large hands of the Behemoth. "Don't shoot me, shoot him!"

This continued for a couple of minutes before they ran out of ammunition. "The gun thing stopped working!" Marie said, as she shook the Spectre, then peeked inside the barrel.

Carbon took a magazine from it's MagHolder and threw the magazine to them as it slowly created a new one from thin air. "Here, reload it!" The two just looked at the magazine with great curiosity. They picked up the magazine and tried to tap it to the empty pistol. Meanwhile, Carbon hid behind a metal counter as the Behemoth searched around for him. "What the hell is taking so long?!" He yelled, causing the Behemoth to look at his general direction. It charged towards Carbon, while he sat there, unknowingly.

"The bar thingy, where does it go?" Callie asked, while Marie tried different things just to reload the pistol.

Carbon face palmed, then was launched halfway across the hallway. He face planted, skidding his face in a distance of about two to three meters. He weakly lifted himself off the ground, and sat down. The HAZMAT suit was undamaged, but Carbon's body was horribly wounded and his some of his bones were broken. Painfully opening his suit, he reached for the overly reinforced syringes. He grabbed one, removed the sterilization cap, and injected himself. He instantly felt better, and slowly stood up. He closed his suit and brushed some dust and specks of tiny rocks that were stuck to it. He ran towards the Behemoth, which also ran towards him. As the Behemoth came closer, he fell down on his back, sliding underneath the Behemoth as it swung it's arms overhead, possibly predicting Carbon to jump. He went to the other side, and began to run again.

"Hey Marie! Callie!" The two finally looked at Carbon, and saw that the Behemoth was already behind him, catching up very quickly. "Give me one shock pole!" Callie grabbed and threw her pole to Carbon, with caught it with ease. He pressed some buttons and moved the slider to maximum. He turned on the pole, and a large burst of electrical current immediately appeared on the tip of the pole. The hum it produced was deafening, and the light it emitted was blinding. Sparks flew to every direction, and the pole was quivering wildly as it tried to endure the massive pile of electricity on it's tip.

"Hey Behemoth!" The large mutant looked at him, and growled. "Come and get me, dick!" He ran towards the wall, causing the Behemoth to give chase. He ran with all his might, barely matching the Behemoth's speed. As he approached the wall, he jumped and landed his foot on one of the padding installed on it. There, he turned around and jumped. With his right arm holding the pole, he quickly thrusted the pole to the Behemoth as it went closer. He landed behind the Behemoth, which shook violently as multiple bolts of electricity ran through his thick skin. The shock pole glowed brightly, and Carbon began to run towards the cousins.

Which were still trying to figure out how to get the magazine into the pistol.

He grabbed each of their arms, and dragged them towards the steel gate, now lying on the floor, crumbled and disfigured. They took cover behind it, and waited.

"Why did we-" A large explosion cut off Marie as she instantly covered her ears. As the light subsided, they took a peek at the standing Behemoth. It fell to it's back, showing the two how much damage Carbon dealt with the single pole. The Behemoth's head was seemingly vaporized, and bits of flesh and ink stained the nearby wall.

"Woah." Marie said, while Callie vomited nearby. "How did you do that?" She asked, as she looked at Carbon with amazement.

"First, I heightened the current of the pole, then I disconnected the main battery to the electrical discharge, then rigged it to explode by overloading it and closing the cooling-" Carbon was stopped by Marie as she put her finger to his lips.

"Know what, I don't care anymore." She said, as she walked away. Carbon just shrugged and waited for the open gateway.

A few minutes later, the two came back. "All ready?" They nodded. "Okay, let's go." They followed Silicon to the Experimental Bay, while the question why the Hexagon decided to close the bay with a massive reinforced steel gate did not cross their minds.

They ventured inside the dark areas of the complex. Unbeknownst to them, they were being stalked by a creature as it smiled behind the shadows of the dark facility.

They stopped and looked around the barren complex. He looked at Callie and said, "I want you to have this." He gave Marie's Spectre and his MagHolder.

They went inside, and looked around. "It's too damn dark." He said, as he felt around. As he felt around, he felt something soft and smooth. "What is this?" He asked, poking it as it moved.

"That's my face!" Marie said, as she looked at him firmly.

Carbon immediately retracted his finger, and smiled. "Sorry." He then tried to feel his way again, leading him to a desk. "Here has got to be some flashlight or some lamp that can help us see better." There, he felt the metal pole of what seemed to be a desk lamp. "Finally!" He said, and switched the lamp on. He shone the light to the darkness of the facility and saw nothing. "Hm, I think there's nothing to be afraid of."

He turned around, and brought the light. As he looked behind him, he suddenly saw a face of a hybrid. He froze in fear. The hybrid didn't realized what it was holding at yet, it was still feeling Carbon's arm. Carbon slowly walked away, but the hybrid followed him and felt the silica fibres of the HAZMAT suit. He did this a few times, and the outcome was really the same. The hybrid will just go near him again and feel the suit.

"Uh…" Carbon muttered, causing the hybrid to tilt it's head. It amusingly tried to repeat the sound Carbon said, but resulted in a deep gurgle. "Hello." Carbon said, testing the hybrid. It tried to speak once again, the scratchy gurgles matching the tone of the word.

"What are you doing?!" Marie asked, looking at Carbon as he played with the creature. "Get back here!"

"This guy copies every word I say!" Carbon laughed, which confused the hybrid. "Well, not every word." The creature hissed, and suddenly charged a Carbon. "What the?!" He said, as the hybrid pinned him to the floor. It snapped at his face, the glass of the suit protecting him from it's disgusting fluid. He positioned his feet on the stomach of the hybrid, and kicked it away from him. It launched amount a couple feet away, landing in a pile of crates, judging from the sound.

A lot more hybrids entered the light, showing themselves to Carbon and the cousins as the creatures slowly advanced to them. "Well, fuck."

"Carbon, they're everywhere!" Marie said, as she grabbed her own shock pole and held it tightly.

"Okay, get ready to fight!" Carbon shouted, grabbing his SL-12 in the left hand and the Flamethrower at the right. The creatures charged towards the group, as they stood firm as the awaited the oncoming horde.


	11. Act Two - Chapter Five

But it never came.

Suddenly, the facility's defenses went online, and fired at the incoming hybrids. The mounted guns skidded left to right, forward and backward, and up and down on the ceiling of the facility, firing at the hybrids. The weapons zipped like flies, and the hybrids dropped like birds.

As the horde was eradicated, the all of the weapons went offline, save for one, which looked at the group, pointing at them. "State your business." A robotic voice sounded from the gun, causing the two inklings to flinch in surprise.

"I knew it," Carbon muttered. He then made a salute to the gun and spoke, "Hello, Artificial Intelligence. Agent Carbon, placed on Xenos Orion 1841 - D1.8.1, Hexagon Controlled. Alternate name, Vizor II. I was stripped off of my post due to an unforeseen invasion, and was transported to this world due to the Kerschovsky Effect."

"Kerschovsky Effect?" Callie whispered to Carbon, which replied by saying,

"Not now, we'll talk later. Alright?" He maintained a straight face, as he looked in the gun's optic camera.

"Kerschovsky Effect. From D1.8.1, Searching for recent rift occurrences…" As the AI processed all of this, Carbon immediately sat down, and caught his breath.

"What's the Kerschovsky Effect?" Callie asked, causing Carbon to lift a finger, saying 'One second.'

As he was sufficiently filled with life giving oxygen, he stood up. "Holding your breath like that while doing a salute is much harder than it looks. Especially if the one you're saluting to is currently pointing a gun to your head."

"But what is the Kerschovsky Effect-" Callie was cut off by the AI, which recently completed its search.

"Scan complete. No recent rifts have been reported. But one warp has been made to this world. From Vizor II, to Reverent." The AI removed it's gun from Carbon's face, which made him feel relieved. "On request by Zephos himself."

Carbon froze as he heard that name. "Did you say, Zephos?" The AI gestured by moving the gun up and down, signifying a nod. "Z-Zephos Hexagon brought me here?! Why?"

"Searching for additional data." The AI paused. "None has been found. All has been locked and only accessible by C5 Personnel."

"Carbon, what's going on?" Marie asked, sensing Carbon's distress.

The AI finally notices them, and points it's gun to the two inklings. "Hostiles located."

"Run!" Carbon shouted, as the two immediately ran to cover, hiding behind a stone wall.

"Protocol Enigma. Engage all hostiles infiltrating the facility." The AI zipped around, and fired at the direction where Callie and Marie were hiding. The heavy ammunition easily cut through the barricade, and penetrated through their cover.

"Stop, they're friendly!" Carbon shouted, causing the AI to go to him.

"Impossible. Database shows that E4-112 is always hostile. No exceptions." The AI said, momentarily distracted.

"But they are not hostile! You've been watching since we got here, right?" Carbon pointed at the camera, looking at him.

"Evidence is irrelevant and insufficient. All hostiles must be eliminated." The AI turned around, and found out that Callie and Marie had disappeared. "What?! Impossible!"

The mobile weapon glided throughout the complex, searching for the two. "How could you have let them escape!" The AI pointed it's weapon back at Carbon.

"Wasn't me, pal. You were the one supposed to be guarding them." Carbon smiled, as the AI continued its search.

"Alright, Marie. Callie. You can come out now." He waited. And waited. And waited.

"Marie? Callie?" He shouted. Wandered. Searched.

Finally, he found a door, leading to who knows where. He lifted his hand, and slowly reached for the knob. He hesitated at first, his breathing quickened as he reached closer for the door.

The second he touched it, everything had been broken. He fell through the floor, as the entire facility cracked and shattered like glass. The shards encased him, locking him in a small box that he barely fit. "What the fuck?!"

"Let me out!" He said, slamming his fists into the glass container.

Suddenly, a pair of eyes appeared in front of him. It's irises were iridescent and the sclera was as black as coal. It's gaze was lifeless, like it was staring into Carbon's soul. It wept colorful ink as it stared into Carbon's own eyes.

"What the actual fuck?" Carbon looked at the floating spheres and touched the fluid coming out of the blackened eyes. He smudged some of it on his fingers, and wiped it off his uniform.

The eyes multiplied, and filled the entire container. Carbon instantly felt fear. He panicked, and slammed his fists onto the small container. The walls slowly came closer, and he began to attack the walls more faster.

He began to stomp the floor, and it cracked. "Yes!" He shouted, as he stomped his way out of the container.

The floor finally gave way, making Carbon fall into the deep abyss. It was never ending. He kept falling into the void.

He looked around, checking for any ledges or platforms he could grab onto. He searched frantically, only for him to get grabbed midair by an unknown force.

"What the fuck?" He struggled at the grasp of the invisible force. He tried to at least remove his arm, but failed.

It was like he can't move himself.

He then heard a calm, sweet female voice.

"This planet is special. We have awaited for this planet's arrival for a million years."

Carbon instantly felt nauseous, and looked down. He closed his eyes, and opened them again. The black void turned into a red tint.

"But as soon as we have seen it, alas!" The voice had turned into a little girl's voice. "It was at conflict!"

The red tint turned into a blue color. "We were in a state of rage. Our precious planet, in a state of turmoil? Unbelievable!" The voice had turned into a deep male voice. The other voices soon spoke their response.

"Absurd!" The girl's voice spoke.

"This is disgraceful!" The woman's voice spoke.

"We sought out for a species that could attack the planet successfully." The male voice spoke again.

A bright flash of light appeared infront of Carbon. Then, a multitude of floating panels showing him a picture of different animals, aliens, and species. "At least a hundred and eighty-six thousand, four hundred and fifty-two. But it was no use." All the previous voices spoke, startling Carbon.

"But we came across one, that fought with weapons of destruction, capable of felling an entire city to waste."

The panels instantly changed pictures, and turned it into a gallery of war, showing all that happened during the times that the voices spoke of.

"We sent an army to the planet, attacking the previous inhabitants."

Carbon instantly felt lightheaded, and vomited on the floor. He fell down, his head first coming contact with the hard, invisible ground. His vision filled with yellow light, and the slight dance of a lit flame on a candle was the last thing he saw.

"Everything was destroyed. They reigned and conquered the planet."

He squinted his eyes, his vision slowly dimming.

"All it took, was a press of a button."

He crawled towards the candle, but failed to reached it as he lost consciousness.

 **"And a light of a flame.** "

Author's Notes:

(Why must I write these things?)

Hello! I'm very sorry that it took a long time to upload this chapter, I had no idea on how to continue the story. The case of the Writer's Block Syndrome.

But only a few people really care about the story, why am I even writing this again?

Oh yeah, the bet. (And also boredom. Mostly boredom.)


	12. Act Two - Chapter Six

"Carbon!" Carbon heard a faint, muffled voice as he slowly gained consciousness. He felt like he was in a rollercoaster, his body was being shook around, and his head ached terribly. "Carbon! Wake up!" He suddenly felt a sharp pain on his cheek, in which he immediately rubbed with his hand.

"What the hell was that for?!" Carbon yelled, causing the cousins to wince in surprise. Carbon soon realized what he had done and immediately apologized.

He tried to stand up, but was stopped by a sudden jolt of pain at his head. He grunted as he held his head, and fell to the ground. The inklings went to Carbon to give help, but he refused. "Wait a minute." He said, and reached for a syringe. He felt crushed glass, and a wet spot in the container. The needles were still there, attached to the caps. Only one syringe survived. "Ah, damn it."

"What's wrong?" Callie asked, causing Carbon to look at her.

"All the fucking syringes were crushed." He said, before pausing and trying to remember what happened earlier. "What happened?"

"Well…" Callie said, as she prepared to tell the story. "You clawed yourself, tried to shoot your head, fall into- well, let's just say that you attempted to kill yourself for uh…" Callie began to count on her fingers.

"Twenty-two." Marie said, looking at the surrounding area, dimmed by lack of light and fog.

"Ah, yes. Twenty-two," Callie said, as she smiled innocently towards Carbon.

"That still doesn't explain on why I have a splitting headache just now." He checked his weapons, preparing for the next obstacle.

"Oh, that may be my fault." Marie said, causing Carbon to direct his attention to her. "After Callie tried to stop you from killing yourself, you suddenly jumped on her. I have no idea why, but you did. So I grabbed my shock pole, and knocked you out by hitting you with the back end."

"Then, you went unconscious for about two hours, before Callie decided to wake you up," Marie said, as she smiled at Carbon.

"So, I was like possessed the entire time?" They nodded. "Wow.. Nice feeling." With his head now less painful than before, he decided to stand up and continue. "C'mon, let's go."

They entered the experimental bay, slowly walking towards the exit, trying to make as less noise as possible. "Hey, have any ideas what they used to do here?" Callie asked, looking around the dimmed complex while holding the two Spectres on her hands.

"No idea. We only know notable facilities and the ones that are near us. All the other ones who are far away are unknown to us," Carbon replied, as he adjusted his suit. "Heck, I didn't even know about this one until we got in."

"So, buildings like these are rare, right?" Marie asked.

"I never say anything like that, but yes," Carbon turned left, and opened a door. They went in, getting themselves inside the main science bay. Glass canisters, containers, monitors, tools and other plethora of items littered the room, which was considerably lit better than the outside halls. "Hexagon facilities like these are only seen once in a continent. We're just either lucky or unlucky that we saw one." He searched around the large room for any weapons, rummaging through boxes and crates. "Who knows what had happened here that made the complex deserted."

"What are you doing?" Callie asked, as she looked at Carbon trying to open a locked crate. As he opened it, they saw a pile bulletproof vests, with faint dark blue streaks running across it. Carbon took two, and gave those to the two inklings.

"Remember what I said earlier?" Carbon said, as he handed off the vests.

"The one where every facility has a unique weapon?" Marie said, as she tried to wear the vest. "This doesn't even fit." Carbon pressed a button on the shoulder area of the vest, instantly making it her. "Ooh." She said, looking at the vest with astonishment.

"Exactly." Carbon said, as he pressed Callie's vest, making it fit her. "Look for anything that catches your eye, we still don't know what it looks like exactly."

"Why don't we just look it up on the monitors we saw in the security room?" Callie suggested, while looking inside the cabinets and containers.

"They're too far away now, plus, the AI is still looking for you." Carbon replied. "Try to find one here, and I'll try to turn it on."

"Found it." Marie said, as she removes some of the things stockpiled on top of it.

"Nice." Carbon powered on the computer, and searched for the weapon.

"Logs… nah."

"Security cameras… nope."

"Secret Files… maybe later."

He searched around the computer for any files, but non- "Found it."

"Let's see here…" He clicked, and scrolled, and clicked again…

"There we go!" He looked at the file, scanning it word to word. "What, no pic?" He dug his face on the keyboard, as he groaned at the lack of further information.

"What's the matter?" Callie asked, looking at the file herself.

"The one who made this report didn't even put a picture of the weapon." Carbon said, as he stood up and went back to the stockpiled items and continued to search there. "All we know, that it's a short gun, with a special magazine attached to it, which has the Hexagon's insignia printed on the magazine."

"What's the insignia again?" Marie asked, looking around for the weapon.

"It's the symbol always printed on every corner and wall! It's practically everywhere." Carbon replied.

"Ah, okay." Callie said as she searched for the elusive gun.

Carbon grabbed hold of a plank of wood, and pulled with all his might. After a minute of pulling, he successfully removed it – causing a large metal compartment to open and letting a perfectly preserved corpse fall to the ground. Callie flinched at the sight, and Marie scoffed.

"Should've seen the look on your face." Marie said, as she snickered at Callie.

Carbon knelt down, next to the corpse. It was hugging a large metal box. Next to the corpse was a metal container, rusted and dented. "What happened to him?" Callie asked, avoiding Marie's snickering.

"This looks like a gas grenade." Carbon took the metal canister and viewed it at different angles. "I'm guessing that he hid inside the compartment in order to avoid something, or someone. Eventually, they found him, and threw a gas grenade inside the compartment and blocked it with the plank I pulled out earlier."

Carbon dropped the canister, and reached for the metal container, still looking newly made. He grabbed the box, and looked for anything that can open it. He then found a note attached at the bottom of the box. He grabbed the piece of paper, and started to read the note.

"To anyone who sees this,

Hopefully, someone else still alive might see this.

I am turning on the self-defense protocol of the Temple, activating the artificial intelligence installed. The new species have turned against us.

The Legion, Mantis and the Empire has launched an attack on the facility, killing thousands of innocent people, scientists, agents, soldiers and even children.

I am releasing the failed experiments in the facility. Those are called Damned. After the squid people turned our scientists into other squid people, we have tried our best to change them back.

They have resorted to their feral minds, not thinking by intelligence but by instinct.

I shall also release the Behemoth. Apparently, some guys tried to double the intake of ink on some of the test subjects, then add the experimental vaccine. They might have thought that the ink would act like snake's venom.

What happened, is that the ink has mixed and was made unstable and the vaccine acted like a catalyst.

Instead of the ink just encasing the victim inside then turning his/her body, the ink hardened and was made into armor.

The vaccine created a monster.

I will also attempt to release the Sanguine, and lock the facility.

I will make this facility as the mass graves of the squid people, the Empire, the Legion, and the Mantis.

Yes, millions of people will die in this exact day. But this may be the last move needed to cripple the remaining resistance in the planet.

I hope my sacrifice will suffice into winning this war.

\- Seventh Perechim, Edward "Limestone" J. Red.

32nd Reconnaissance Company, Hexagon Defense and Military."

Carbon blinked a few times, and rereads the letter a few more times. "Holy shit, this guy's a fucking Perechim."

"Perechim? What's that?" Callie asked, currently looking at the metal canister.

"Perechim are legends among Agents. They have to show exceedingly skillful tactics, movements and well, skill to become one." Carbon said, and grabbed the box.

"If he's so 'skilled', then why did he hide inside this thing?" Marie said, knocking on the metal compartment.

"Something must be inside this box, something that he doesn't want the other factions to get." Carbon said, and blew on the box, removing most of the dust piled on it. It revealed the Hexagon's insignia, and nine small squares grouped together in a 3x3 box.

"Shit. It has a code." Carbon said, as he looked at the note. He saw a bunch of numbers, symbols and letters, which read as "9EEAiE6IEFA= 256C]4 5a=7"

"How do you read that?" Callie asked, looking at the code.

"It's a basic code. One Two, One Five, One Five, One One, One Five, Two Oh, One Niner, Six, One Five, One Eight, One Three, One Five, One Eight, Five, Three, One Five, Four, Five, One Niner." He paused. "That seems simple enough." Carbon presses the designated buttons, which made the box's lock open, the container hissing as it depressurized.

"Holy fucking shit." Carbon said as he looked at the box's contents. He could've sworn that he heard a angelic choir. Callie and Marie themselves took a peek, and stared at it with astonishment.

"I think we just hit the mother load."

Author's Note:

(Suicide is honorable in the Hexagon.)

Hello!

As of now, I'm letting the community of FanFiction to vote on a very important decision.

Please note that your decision may change the story's outcome, and it will not be pretty.

You can find the poll on my profile. Thank you.


	13. Act Two - Chapter Seven

The box was filled with several weapons, unseen by other eyes. An imprint on the interior of the box read, "PROTOTYPE WEAPONRY - PARALINE."

Two blue glowing swords, an experimental gun, and a weird looking weapon was inside.

Carbon grabbed a sword, holding it as it glowed slightly at his touch. "Woah."

"Dibs on the sword!" Marie said, as she reached for the last one.

"Hey!" Callie said as she looked at Marie swinging it wildly.

"Unless you want to cut your own head, you might want to put that down." Carbon said, as he grabbed the gun and slung it. He reached for the weird weapon, but he saw the corpse twitch. They looked at the corpse, watching it as Carbon slowly went closer.

"I think he's still ali-" It twisted its head, and looked at Carbon. He lunged at him, and pinned him to the ground.

He screamed like a girl.

"It's got my arm!" Carbon shouted, as the creature gnawed on his arm.

"Oh come on. It's kind of cute, right?" Marie said, giggling to herself.

"Get it away from me!" Carbon screamed, as it's teeth ripped out bits of flesh from his arm. "Argh! Fuck!" He jabbed at the Perechim several times. He was getting exhausted, but the creature didn't even flinch.

It dug deeper into his arm, and Carbon could hear bones breaking as it bit through. "Oh my fucking!-"

"Move out of the way!" Carbon heard Marie's voice to his left. He looked in her direction, to see her charge towards Carbon with the plank of wood in her hands.

"Not me! Not me!" Carbon said, covering his head as he awaited impact.

As she swung, the wood cracked as it hit the Perechim's face with tremendous speed and strength. It let go of Carbon's arm, and was launched three feet away. Callie took Carbon's Spectre and repeatedly fired at the Perechim's head.

She emptied the entire magazine, and what's left of it's face was an indescribable brown mush.

She breathed deeply, as she gave the pistol back to Carbon. He on the other hand, desperately searched for the last syringe in his suit.

"Found it!" He said, holding the precious green syringe in his right hand. He bit on the syringe's side to temporarily hold it, and he twisted the back, removing the sterilization cap. He then held the syringe and injected himself.

The wound healed, but in a slow rate. It was healing fast enough that they could see it in action. "Wow." Marie said, particularly amazed.

"Yep." Carbon said, as he waited for the wound to fully disappear, before standing up and wrapping it with some cloth he found. "The bone still needs to heal, though."

"I thought you were dead!" Callie said, as she hugged Carbon's head tightly.

"Callie, would you mind stopping? My face is currently in your… chest area, and I'm currently feeling uncomfortable right now." Carbon said, trying to get out of her grip.

"Never!" Callie embraced him tighter, burying his face deeper.

"Mmph! Mmph!" Carbon struggled, and clawed at her arms.

"Okay, stop it you two." Marie said, making Callie release Carbon. He huddled on the ground, his eyes widened.

"Thank you…" He whispered, utterly traumatized from such an event.

After a few minutes, he stood up and cleared his throat. "Let us never speak of this again." He went to the weapons box, and took the weapons.

He gives them each a sword, and he took the weapon and the gun. He knelt and checked the box again, to see if there's any more notes to describe the weapon of his.

"Nope." He said, finding none but extra pouches of MagHolders for the weapons. He took the MagHolders of the weapons he found.

Looking at the MagHolder of the large weapon, it seems that it runs on battery power. Electricity.

"Let's go now, I don't want more of these things to bite me. There's no more syringes to use." Carbon said, leaving the room and looked for the exit.

Marie and Callie shortly followed.

"There!" Callie pointed at a faraway door, with the sign 'Fire Exit' on top of it.

"I was expecting some sort of a large, futuristic door. Considering the day that just happened." Marie said, looking at the door.

"Well, gate or not, it's still our way out. Come on!" Carbon said, as he sprinted towards the door.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Marie and Callie said, as they followed Carbon.

As they burst through the door, they were greeted by a very tall staircase.

"Shit." Carbon said, looking at the staircase with a glint of madness in his eyes. "Stairs."

A few hours later, they finally reached the top. They emerged from the staircase, exhausted and out of breath. "Let's-" Carbon huffed. "Let's sit here for a while."

The two nodded, and sat down. "That took longer than expected." Marie said, as she took deep breaths.

"Yep, what time is it anyway?" Carbon asked, as he stood up and opened the door. It revealed to be nighttime.

It then started to rain, shortly after Carbon opened the metal door, camouflaged beside a rocky cliff. "That's a new one." Carbon said, feeling the raindrops on his hand as it fell from the skies above. He then heard an explosion on top of the cliff, and a uniformed soldier fell shortly after. "Holy!" Carbon looked up, and saw bullets passing through the air.

The fallen soldier groaned. Carbon then looked around, and cursed to himself. "Ah, damn it." He got out into the rain, and dragged the soldier away from the battlefield and into the bunker.

"Hey!" Carbon said, causing the soldier to snap into consciousness. He then looked at Callie and Marie, and gestured to them to to hide. They hid just underneath the flight of stairs he was in. "Are you okay?" The soldier looked around, and coughed. "How many fingers am I holding up?" Carbon held out two fingers.

The soldier became unresponsive and went limp.

"Ah, fuck." Carbon said, and slowly dropped the body on the floor. "You can come out now Marie, Callie!" The ground shook as another explosion happened on top of the cliff. "And hurry up, I think this exit wouldn't hold on much longer!"

They ran outside, and sprinted away from the bunker. A wayward missile hit the top of the cliff, causing the exit to collapse. A dust cloud spread throughout the cliffside, limiting sight for Carbon. "Marie!" He called, "Callie!" He coughed, and fanned his face until the dust settled.

"Shit!" He cursed, having separated from the rest of the group.

"Marie!" Carbon called out. "Callie!" He wandered around aimlessly, looking around for the two inklings. He then heard a click behind him, and a cold touch of metal was placed behind his head.

Author's Comments:

(This is getting annoying.)

MagHolders are special little pouches that hold a specific weapon's magazine. If the pouch is empty, a special printer inside it would create a new magazine from scratch.

If 3D printers were more advanced today, we would have access to this type of technology and can get ammo indefinitely.

Also, I will not be shipping anyone from my story. (I just don't know how to do it. Also, gross.)

‹Poll closes in February 25.›


	14. Act Two - Chapter Eight

"What are you? Elite?" He heard a voice behind him. "Order? Legion? Mantis? Dominion?" The unknown assailant pushed his weapon slightly against Carbon's head, threatening him. "Do you support the inklings?"

Carbon slowly raised his hands. "I… uh.." He cleared his throat, cold sweat beading down his forehead. He then reacted quickly, grabbing the unknown assailant's hand, as he pulled the trigger. He moved the gun away from him, nearly missing his suit as it fired wildly.

He elbowed the arm of the assailant, and disarmed him. He took the pistol, and aimed it at the assailant. "Who the hell are you?!"

The unknown soldier looked at Carbon in surprise, suddenly realizing that the tables had turned. He raised his hands into the air, and looked around. The soldier looked at Carbon's HAZMAT suit, and saw a blue hexagon printed on his shoulder. "T-The Hexago-" A loud crack sounded off from a distance, and the soldier fell down instantaneously.

"Shit!" Carbon dove to the ground, and shortly after, another shot sounded. The bullet hit the ground where he was exactly standing. He rolled sideways, as another shot was fired.

"I need to get out of here." Carbon stood up, and fled to the forest.

Armed with a flamethrower, a mysterious weapon, an assault rifle effective against inklings, and a knife. All those weapons were useless if he were to fight a five-front war.

He emerged from the forest, now on the other side, and he saw a multitude of soldiers, bearing different uniforms, fighting for their lives in a grass plains, littered with small villages and towns. He took the large, mysterious weapon and was confused on how to wield it.

"Maybe… no, that's not right." He tried to hold it like a gun, but it was too bulky. "Maybe like a… okay!" He held it like a rocket launcher, and aimed at the biggest one in the plains.

It seems that the Legion was fighting in the war, after all. A large, robot with crab-like legs, armed with a plethora of weapons walked around the field, firing at the other soldier with little to no problem at all. Carbon knelt down, and turned on the weapon. The weapon hummed, and Carbon aimed down the sights. In the holographic sight, everything was tinted red. Two circles were moving around, one seemed to be moving slowly while one seemed to be moving faster. He aimed it at the robot, and the circles locked in. The slow one immediately went to the robot, but the quick one circled the robot of a while before locking on. The circles went green, and Carbon pressed the trigger. He held his finger pressed on the trigger, letting the weapon charge up it's projectile. A small, dim red beam of light shot from the weapon, targeting the robot. It seemed to be penetrating it, but it did no damage. After a few seconds, the weapon finally fired.

It produced two more red beams of light, one at the left and one at the right. They slowly joined with the middle one, which locked on the robot and went brighter. With a single release of the trigger, Carbon instantly saw the robot being shot, a large hole appearing where the beam was originally pointing at. It fell shortly afterwards.

Carbon pressed a button on the weapon, and pulled the hatch where the battery was placed. He removed it, and replaced it with a new one. He closed the hatch and locked it in place. He then slung the weapon back on his back, and took the assault rifle.

"I have a Weaponized High-powered Particle Beam Accelerator." Carbon said in astonishment. He then pumped his fists, now knowing that he wielded a rare weapon, only made scarcely.

"The beam came from there!" He heard a voice come from nearby. He quickly ran away, holding his assault rifle in his hands.

"I'm going to name you, Artemis." He said, and pointed at the Particle Beam Accelerator. "And you. I'm going to name you Cyrrus." He pointed at his assault rifle.

He looked at Cyrrus and held it tightly on his hands. He traversed through thick dense foliage and punishing terrain.

It was about sunrise, when he found his first clear patch of land. A small village was nearby, also ransacked by the battle. He decided to go to the village, and wait for Marie and Callie.

He neared the village, sprinting to it with only the dark veil of night and the sound of gunfire drowning his footsteps and camouflaging him as he moved stealthily to the village. He slung Cyrrus back, and went closer.

He hid behind a house, and took deep breaths. It was then another man also had the same idea, and didn't notice him.

"I gotta get back to Adams." He said, breathing heavily as he looked back at the battlefield. It was then that he turned around, and saw Carbon. "Wh-" Loud bangs of gunfire sounded nearby, and the man fell dead.

Carbon covered his ears to shield them from the loud reports of the weapon being fired. It was louder than his weapons, maybe because that his weapons were used for swift, silent kills.

He ran to the other side of the house, and saw an open window. He got inside, and found himself inside a bedroom. Multiple soldiers were already inside, taking shelter from the outside elements.

Carbon hid beside the door. He knocked twice, and waited for someone to answer. A bit later, a soldier went inside. Carbon lunged from behind, and choked the soldier into submission. He went limp, and Carbon then hid him in a dresser. Carbon took out his knife, and sneaked outside. He wandered throughout the house, avoiding guards as much as possible.

As he neared the front door, someone came in. He immediately noticed Carbon. "Hey!" The soldier took his weapon, a gray assault rifle.

Carbon jumped to the side, taking cover behind an upturned table. The bullets penetrated the thin wooden table easily. "Why did I do this?!"

He chose between his weapons.

Artemis is too large and slow.

Cyrrus is only effective against inklings.

The flamethrower would just burn the house and everyone inside it.

Which means that the most effective weapon to use in this situation is…

The knife.

Carbon took out his knife, and gripped it. He waited for the perfect moment, and…

"We heard gunfire!" Another soldier appeared infront of Carbon. He then stabbed the knife on the soldier's knee, causing him to drop to the floor in pain. He removed the knife and then thrusted it to his head, killing him instantly. He then took the soldier's holstered pistol.

"Fuck! How do you use these things!?" Carbon said, as he loaded a round in the chamber and peeked out his cover. The opposing soldier then started firing at him again, but it ended shortly as he ran out of ammunition. Carbon then jumped out of cover, and pulled the trigger. It only fired one shot though, before it clicked.

"Fucking dick!" He cursed, before holding the pistol at it's barrel and smacking the soldier with it. The soldier staggered, and Carbon attacked instantly. He threw himself to the soldier, making them smash through the door. Outside, were multiple soldiers pointing their weapons at Carbon.

"You! Suited man! Drop all your weapons and we may spare you!" The one at the middle spoke, as he pointed his pistol at Carbon.

He was surrounded. Carbon looked back, and saw two more soldiers inside the house, pointing their weapons towards Carbon.

He looked at their uniforms, and saw emblems of different variations. Many were colored green, many were teal. Heck, some were even pink. But what really caught Carbon's eye was a cartoonish print of a squid, with two eyes on it.

Carbon slowly raised his hands. "I support the inklings." Carbon lied, and many seemed to believe it.

The commanding officer suddenly jabbed Carbon on the cheek. "Liar! We all know what you would do to these precious creatures!" He spat at Carbon, and went back into the crowd.

"But sir, he knew of their real names. Most of the resistance call them 'Squidmen' or other kinds of names." One soldier spoke.

"Like you said, most." The leader said, seemingly untrustworthy of Carbon. "He is a spy! Sent to us by the Resistance to crush the Order's plans!" He gestured to his men, and they made Carbon kneel. The leader went towards Carbon, and pointed the pistol at his head. "I know this all too well."

Carbon closed his eyes, waiting for his end. But then, a loud crack sounded across the field once more, surprising Carbon and the soldiers.

"What was that?" One of the soldiers asked their officer. The officer suddenly dropped his weapon., and knelt down on the ground. He held his neck, and struggled to breathe.

Blood then gushed out from a large hole located on the middle of his neck, piercing the jugular.

A metal ball then suddenly landed near Carbon, it's parts twisting around. "It's the Resistance!" The soldiers scattered, having no one to lead them. Carbon looked down at the metal ball, which glowed red and ticked rapidly.

"Fuck!" Carbon then grabbed the grenade, and threw it as hard as he can. It landed on some of the soldiers, and exploded. A fine red mist then replaced the once active soldiers.

It was then he heard new voices speak behind him. "Sweep the area! Make sure none of these fuckers ever survive!"

Carbon ran and dove towards a square hedge, and hid there. He saw soldiers, dressed in green tactical gear and held basic weapons. "For the Empire!" One shouted, and tackled one fleeing soldier. The inkling supporter was pinned to the ground. The Imperial soldier grabbed hold of his neck, and tried to choke him to death. The Inkling supporter, however, never gave up without a fight. He clawed at the Imperial, trying to get him away.

One Imperial soldier kicked the door to a house not far from where Carbon was hiding. It was after he had kicked the door, that the Imperial was then killed instantly by a grunt as he swung an axe at his head.

The village became a battlefield. Every soldier using dirty tricks to gain an upper hand against their opponent. Carbon looked around, and tried to escape by sprinting away, but his passage had been blocked by what it seems to be an Imperial soldier. The imperial was then killed by someone who shot him from the back.

Carbon then took his chances and decided to run away from the small town. He stood up, and sprinted away. Bullets whizzed around him as opposing factions fired at each other.

He then tripped on a rock. He hit his head on the ground, thankfully, the suit's language translator took the brunt of the force.

"Fuck!" Carbon cursed, as he felt the translator, which had been crushed by the fall.

An imperial soldier then grappled him from behind. Carbon jerked his head backwards, hitting the nose of the imperial. Carbon took his knife, and lunged at the Imperial. With one quick slice, blood came rushing out of his throat.

He continued his way, away from the village as the Empire and the Dominion fought their war.

"Fuck, the translator's been crushed." Carbon said, removing his suit and checking that broken translator. A large crack was seen, the translator almost cut in half. Carbon then wore his suit back. "Fuck."

"If there's a temple around here, then there must also be a fort in this fucking land." He said, cursing his luck.

"Well, I'm on my own once more." He looked back at the village. Half of it was destroyed as the Imperial soldier put charges inside the houses to flush out the remaining Dominion.

"I wish Marie and Callie were okay."

End of ACT II

Author's Comments:

(I can see EVERYTHING!)

I'm feeling generous today.

Story Trivia:

There are actually twelve organizations/groups planned in the story.

So far, the ones who have appeared were the Legion, the Inkling Order, the Pro-Inkling Human Dominion, and the Paraline Empire/Paralinian Elite.

In war, there's always some who would vouch for the enemy team. Usually due to money, power, religion, but mostly, fear.


	15. Act Three - Chapter One

Carbon traveled for miles.

Searching for a way to bring companionship back. He wandered the land, avoiding anyone that comes in his way.

He then felt something weird.

He actually...missed Marie and Callie. Their companionship gave him a sense of security. They gave him hope.

Without them, it was quiet.

Carbon stopped in his tracks. He looked around him, scanning the trees. "Maybe a little, too quiet." He took out Cyrrus, and held it tightly. He aimed at the trees, looking out for anyone might get the jump on him. "Come out, you dick." Carbon muttered, aiming at the trees with intense focus.

An inkling with lime green tentacles then dropped from the trees, it was wearing a different attire than the others. It wore a safety vest or something like that, conical things on it's head, black sneakers, and other type of futuristic shit. He took his weapon, a black ink blaster, which had green lights blinking on it. He looked like the CIA agent of the Inkling Order. He looked at Carbon, and spoke. {Human.}

It spoke in a gurgling sound. Due to Carbon's translator being broken, he cannot understand a single thing. {By the order of the Chancellor, you are under arres-}

Carbon took Cyrrus and fired it at the inkling with one swift move. The inkling was shot at the head, it's mouth still open as it's eye widened at the sudden attack. It fell down into the ground, it's head bleeding green ink. After a while, the entire body melted into ink, leaving it's weapons and clothes on the ground, soaked in his 'blood.' "Gross," Carbon muttered, stepping on the ink puddle.

Even more dropped from the trees. They wielded the same weapons and wore the same gear. "You want more?" Carbon said, tightly holding Cyrrus in his hands.

It was a stand-off. He eyed them closely. They circled him, holding their own weapons.

The inklings suddenly fired, causing Carbon to dive sideways, taking cover in a small ditch. He peeked out of cover, and fired at the inklings, causing them to move into cover as well.

{Come on, you pathetic excuse of Agents! Fire at the human and make your Hero Shots into good use!} One inkling blabbered, to Carbon it was just an incomprehensible sound. He looked around him, checking to see if anyone was trying to ambush him.

Carbon waited for someone to move out of his/her cover. One inkling peeked out, and Carbon immediately fired at it. The inkling quickly pulled back, avoiding the bullets. The weapon suddenly ran out of ammunition, and Carbon strained to remove a fresh one from his pouch. "Fuck." He released the magazine, and loaded the new one. A new one slowly began to form in his MagHolder.

He fired at the inkling squad again, one getting hit at the arm.

{Four, you go and get this roller. Show that human who's boss.} An inkling chatted.

{Sir, what if I get sho-} Agent Four spoke back, but was interrupted by their leader.

{Just go and do it! We'll cover you!} Carbon then heard a rustling in the bushes in front of him.

"Come out, you goddamned squids." Carbon said, looking out for the inklings.

{I'm in position.} He heard a gurgling sound at his left. Carbon looked at the bush to his left, and slowly went to it.

{Go! Fire at the human!} The inkling commanded, and the inklings started firing at Carbon again. Inklings shot from their covers, never leaving their safety.

"Ah, fuck!" He ducked again, and proceeded to fire at the inklings from his cover. One inkling decided to join him in his ditch, jumping down to it and aiming at Carbon. The inkling fired, hitting Carbon at the shoulder. Carbon immediately aimed Cyrrus at the inkling, but then, he heard a rustling sound behind him.

{For the Order!} Another inkling emerged from the side, holding a giant paint roller. Carbon barely had time to duck as he swung the roller, hitting him at the back of the head.

He was knocked down, but still conscious. He reached for Cyrrus, and turned around. He saw the inklings pointing their blasters at him, every single one of them. Even the one with the roller had a smug look on his face. {Human.} An inkling spoke. {By the order of the Chancellor, you will be brought to Inkopolis and will be sent to ex-}

"You know I can't understand you, right?" Carbon said, looking at the inklings with confusion.

The leading inkling cleared his throat, and spoke again. "I am sorry. I was told of that you could understand us." He then heard him mutter under his breath. {Lousy bastards. I'll get them for this.} The inkling then looked back at Carbon and smiled, revealing his teeth, some pointed, some are not. Much like a squid's beak. But what do you expect? They are, biologically, squids. I think.

"You will be went to Inkopolis and will be sentenced to-" The inkling, interrupted by Carbon once more.

"Jail? Is that where I'm supposed to go? Because I always wondered to myself what would happen if I go to jail. Would I get a bea-" Carbon was then interrupted by the inkling.

"They're going to kill you, you pathetic fool!" The inkling shouted at his face. "You almost sound like my grandfather, but even more annoying!"

"Hey, don't say that about your grandfather. You know she gave birth to your mother or father, right?" Carbon said, with him smiling back at the inkling.

{Are you sure we can't kill this thing now?!} The inkling spoke in their natural dialect. He sounded pissed off.

The other inklings shrugged. {You were the one who told us that we should capture him alive, boss.}

The leading inkling, let's just call him pink. Canon immediately noticed his pink tentacles… "Hey, are you gay?" Carbon asked, causing 'Pink' to completely lose it.

Pink screamed loudly, and grabbed Carbon and pinned him to a tree. "I am not gay!" He yelled. He stared at Carbon's eyes, filled with absolute hatred and anger.

"Then why are your tentacles pink?" Carbon asked, causing the others to snicker and giggle.

"I just like pink, you absolute dick!" Pink said, shaking Carbon wildly.

"Well, at least the universe knows who's gay and who's not." Carbon muttered out loud, causing the others to laugh behind them.

Pink took his knife, and pointed it at Carbon. {I'm going to kill you!} The other inklings noticed the shimmering blade as it shone, and jumped at Pink, making him drop Carbon on the ground.

{You can't do that!} {The Chancellor will have our heads!} {You'll kill us all!} {You're disobeying orders!} The inklings wrestled on the ground, while Carbon slowly grabbed his weapons, and inch by inch, he walked away.

He turned around and ran. "Please don't notice that I'm gone. Please don't notice that I'm gone. Please do-"

He ran for a few good meters, before someone shouted. {He got away!} Carbon didn't understand, but it was clearly them realizing that he had fled.

"Fuck!" He ran even faster, searching for somewhere to go. He looked around. Checking every nook and cranny of this forsaken jungle.

He then found a large clearing. He went through the dense trees, and got in the clearing. He looked back, and saw a lone inkling, charging at him with the paint roller. As he reached the clearing, the others jumped out of the ink and formed their human-like bodies. {Get him!} They fired at him while strafing.

He then ran to the trees, at the edge of the clearing. He took cover behind a tree, and flinched as he heard the splatters of ink hitting the tree. He looked at the clearing, it was almost covered in ink. He decided to fire at them blindly. Peeking out of cover would risk him getting hit at the face.

Even though he had his HAZMAT suit on, it would still pretty much hurt.

Occasionally, the inklings would go to their squid form and glide on the ink, and then go back to their human-like form and try to shoot Carbon again.

It went like this for an hour. Each side exchanging an indefinite amount of bullets and ink. "Give up, human!" Pink shouted.

"Why don't YOU give up, Pink face?" Carbon said, returning fire at the inklings.

"Stop saying that!" Carbon heard a clicking sound, and a triangle grenade was thrown towards him. "Throw more splat-bombs at him!"

He jumped out of the way, and went to the clearing. He fired at the inklings as he charged towards them. The bomb exploded behind him, splattering ink everywhere. He hit two inklings, and the remaining three retreated.

"Come back here, cowards!" He gave chase, firing at the fleeing inklings as they jumped over logs, ducked under low lying branches, and avoided poison oak and thorns. "I got you now!"

He then heard a beep, and looked below him. "Oh, fuck." The mine detonated, launching Carbon back into the clearing. He landed on a tree, upside-down. He was now covered in green ink, and smelled like squid, too. "Pretty much every part of my body hurts." He manage to make himself sit, and rested for a bit.

He looked at his suit, and chuckled. "Well, at least it's not WHITE ink. I wonder what would it look like if Marie did the same thing to me." Carbon shuddered at the reality. He then remembered that two inklings had escaped his grasp, so he gave chase once more, following the ink trail they left behind.

He ran, nearly tripping on several rocks. He followed the trail, leading him to a town not far from here. It seems that the trail had suddenly stopped. Small drips of ink now trailed towards the town.

Carbon then tightly held Cyrrus on his hands, and followed the ink trail.

Author's Comments:

(Veni, Vidi, Vici!)

Poll has been closed. Only three had voted. [But at least I got my results.]

I have not played this game, but had done research. If there's any error in my story, be it a grammatical mistake, a spelling error, or inconsistency, please tell me in the reviews.

All criticism is welcome.


	16. Act Three - Chapter Two

Ferrion Plains.

Home to a dozen scattered towns, each being inhabited by thousands of people.

After the war, most have been converted to prison areas, some have sheltered bandits, but rarely, it sheltered humans. Either it held survivors from the war, or untouched by the war.

Carbon followed the green ink trail, leading to a small town. It's buildings were crumbling. Metal frames were rusted. It was crumbling. Some armed men may walk from time to time, but there were only a few.

As he entered the town, the ink trail abruptly stopped. Looking around for a new lead, he wandered around the outskirts of town.

Having nothing else to follow, he decided to pay the town a visit. Risking his life. He hid behind some barrels, and looked around. He decided to find the town hall.

Starting at the center.

He sneaked towards the town center, not far from where he was. Bandits patrolled the town, looking from every window, watching every corner.

Carbon had to be very careful. One wrong step, and he's done for. He had then reached a crossroad, and multiple armed people were positioned just around the corner. Carbon waited for the perfect moment, then sprinted.

He then went to a bush. Hid there. "Hey, wait a sec. I'm gonna go check on something. Don't let Matt light that fire." Carbon then heard someone go closer to his hiding place.

He peeked, and saw that the man was right next to him. "That's it. I'm dead, I'm so fucking de-"

He then heard a sound of a zipper, a whistle, and without any warning, piss rained from above. Carbon just sat there, static. Move an inch, and he might get seen. He then heard him zip his pants back up, and go back to their conversation.

Carbon stared into blankness as he smelt urine all over him. "When I get back, I'm going to take a fucking bath." He paused, looked around, then continued his way. "Thrice."

It was easily distinguished from the other buildings, as it was absolutely more managed than the other buildings.

Also, a sign was placed in the front, saying 'Town Center.' How convenient.

Carbon went to the side of the building, and hid in the bushes again. He hoped that no one would piss on him again, and then he looked out for a window, or any place where he might get in.

"-aught these two blokes walkin' 'round the town." Carbon then overheard a discussion coming from inside the building. He searched the side of the building, looking for the part where he would hear it the clearest. He then hugged the wall, and placed his ear on it, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. "I'm gonna give ye 'ese two for some money."

The captured inklings muttered muffled groans, protests and words. It sounded like they were gagged. Carbon could hear them trying to scream for help.

"Shut the fuck up, ye dirty little bastards!" He then heard a new voice, shouting at the struggling inklings. "What'er ya? A bounty hunter?" He then heard the voice again, sounding from an old man. "Well, Ah might've needed a few more 'back scratchers' today. So here's a few hundred pillars."

"Pillars? Maybe that's the currency the people here use." Carbon muttered to himself. He slightly flinched as the old man slammed his palm on a table.

"Who said that?" The man asked. Carbon then heard footsteps, sounding even closer every step he took. He sweated like mad. He then heard the old man sniff. "Someone fucking peed on my house!"

Carbon cursed repeatedly, closing his eyes as he awaited what would happen next. His heartbeat pulsed rapidly, and adrenaline was rushing through his veins. He reached for his knife, ready to strike. "Don't worry 'bout em. You'll get 'em next time."

"Yeah, guess you're right." Carbon sighed in relief, taking his hand off the knife and resuming his eavesdrop.

"Where do you want to put these?" The other man asked, causing Carbon to gain interest on their discussion once more.

"Just put 'em in any house. Don't worry, some of mah men will keep 'em... company." The old man paused suspiciously as he said company. Like it had a double meaning on what he had sa-

"Oh, Zephos no." Carbon said, looking around him. The buildings weren't housing people, they were used for keeping captured hostages and using them for pleasure.

"I need to bust them out, now!" He whispered to himself, and looked at the surrounding houses. "And even the others, if I can." He said, standing up...

And revealing himself to a group of men talking just beside his bush. One was about to piss on him again. There were four of them, each holding a ranged weapon. One held a pistol, two held assault rifles that looked like AK47s, and the last one held a shotgun of some sorts.

They looked at Carbon, confused. Carbon stared at them as well, realization setting in late. "Shit." After a minute or so, Carbon then ran.

"Get him!" One man shouted, and all of them jumped at Carbon at once. He dove to the right, and avoided a direct hit as the threw themselves onto the wall of the building. Carbon stood up, not looking back, and ran again.

His boots were perfect for the gravel road. Giving him extra friction to make him run faster. Men were giving chase, but ultimately losing speed as they lacked endurance.

It was starting off pretty well, until some people decided to shoot at him instead. Bullets hit the ground, right next to his feet. He nearly lost balance, tripping over. He quickly regained his posture, and continued to run.

The whistle of bullets were deafening as they whizzed past him. He had no weapons to fight them, all of which were too big or ineffective. He traverse the town, moving from corner to corner, trying to avoid the spray of bullets that were being fired to him.

One man suddenly appeared in front of him, holding a rusty spiked club of some sorts. He then swung at Carbon nearly hitting him as he leaned backwards. He then grabbed the man's hand, rendering him unable to use the club, then delivered him a headbutt.

He then took the club, as the man went disorientated. He swung it to the man, hitting him at the neck. He went down almost instantaneously. The ground pooled with red blood, the man lying down on the ground lifelessly.

"Turn around, meat-head!" He then heard a voice behind him. He looked back, and saw a glimpse of a rifle heading out to strike him. He rolled to the left, avoiding the hit. He took his own knife, and tackled the attacker. They stumbled down the ground, with Carbon pushing his weight down the knife. "You smell like someone pissed on you!"

"Damn right they did." He jabbed the man at the cheek, and successfully stabbed him right at the throat. He took his knife, and stood up. He turned around, only to see armed men pointing their guns at him.

"Who the hell are you?" The old man asked, emerging from the crowd. He looked thin. Very thin. He then smelled Carbon. "And were you the one who reeked of piss earlier?"

"Yes. Yes I am." Carbon looked around. Every window, every house, everywhere. There were armed men pointing a gun at him. He smiled behind his suit, unseen by the bandits.

"Take this shit away from me." The old man said. "Hopefully we can earn some damn good money with these equipment."

The last thing Carbon saw, was the man turning around before a bag had been put on his head.

He was knocked out, and was dragged to who knows where.

Author's Comments:

(I stepped on a LEGO piece.)

Now achieving 25k words!

Updates may occur in a range of two(2) days to five(5) months. Depends on how well my brain would continue to give ideas on how the story would go.

Yeah.

Also, since you've reached this far, have a cookie.


	17. Act Three - Chapter Three

(Prepare for uh… a bit of a ride.)

"Wake up!" Carbon felt a cold, wet substance run through his face. He coughed, and sputtered. Every breath was agony.

The bag was then removed from his head, exposing his sensitive eyes to the bright sunlight. As his eyes adjusted, he found himself inside a room, illuminated by by the sun. Two men were watching from the other side. He was strapped into a chair, his hands and feet tied behind his back.

A door was in the east side of the room. Another man then came in the room, and glared at Carbon. He went in front of him, and asked, "Are you alone?"

Carbon stared at him, following him as he moved around the room. "Where are the inklings?" He said, sternly.

The man cackled like mad. "It is not common for us to see a human accompanying the little squid people." The man went closer to Carbon, and grabbed his shoulders. "Tell me, who are you?"

"I'm not with them," was Carbon's only answer.

"So, you were hunting them, yes?" The man asked, looking at Carbon's left eye. "That explains your very precious gear."

Carbon leered at the man's face. "Get me out of here."

"In one condition." The man said, as he started to wander around the room. "Capture ten squids for me, and bring them back here."

Carbon thought of it for a second. He looked at the man, and then at the two guards. "Deal."

"Alright then." He went closer to Carbon. He then put a bag over his head, and knocked him out.

Carbon then woke up in a middle of a clearing. Beside him, was his weapons (Except Artemis), his gear, and a note. He picked up the note, and read it. "Bring me ten squid people before five days, and I will release your little friends. Return empty-handed, or try to escape, and I will kill your friends, and hunt you down. Attached is a map of the area. Remember, I'm watching you." He took the map and crumpled the note into a ball. "What a nice sounding letter."

He looked around the woods, and looked at the map. "It sees here that I woke up in a place called 'Amber Solitude'. What a nice place." He expected someone to talk to him. Hearing only silence, he decided to look around, and sighed. "I miss Callie and Marie."

He looked at the map again, and saw two villages near Solitude. One village, named Goldmine, was behind a mountainous area, known only as 'Mountains' by the map. The second, was named Sanctuary, which was beside a river, which was named 'Darius'.

Darius was crossed out, with a red writing replacing it, saying 'Contaminated'. Goldmine was written with a small inkblot on the end of the name, maybe signifying an inkling establishment? However, Sanctuary had a question mark next to it. He looked for the bandits' village on the map, and saw a village far away from Solitude, with it's name written in red ink, and a crude drawing of a house next to it.

It's name was Sinner's Paradise.

"If I would've known the name of that village, I wouldn't even take a single step in there." Carbon said, closing the map and tucked it in his pocket.

He knelt down, took and wore his HAZMAT suit, slung Cyrrus, attached flame thrower, and wore his gear. He held Cyrrus tightly in his hands, and looked at the direction of the two villages at the distance.

"Better go to Sanctuary. Might be safer there." He said, and went towards Sanctuary.

Forty minutes into the trek, he found a lone hut. It was in the middle of the forest. "Wait a minute." He said, as he slowly went near the lone house. It was Joseph's old hut, but it had no moat, or defenses. Just a normal hut in the middle of the woods. "This seems awfully familiar, like I've already seen and done this before."

He reached for the door. His hand stopped inches away, as he hesitated to open it. 'Oh, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.' He cursed mentally, biting his lip.

The door opened itself, and revealed an inkling that had pink tentacles, holding a squid in it's arm. They looked at each other, before it broke the silence. "Um, hello." It said, as she reached out her hand. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Carbon saw his life flash before his eyes, and froze. He remembered his time at the First Sierran War, where he met a similar girl, and spoke as soft as the inkling in front of him.

She was nice to him at first, before she decided to keep him for herself.

She tricked him.

Used him.

Locked him.

Tortured him.

He was locked up in her bedroom for months, being used as a sexual servant. He was her toy. She chained Carbon to the bed, only releasing him when he needed 'relief', as she called it. Whenever he didn't comply, he was brutally beaten by her other loyal… 'guards' and then whipped.

It took a large amount of Carbon's sanity, and broke it apart. He went insane in that room. Each minute was like a day to him. Weeks were years. Months were centuries.

Until he killed her, with her own sex toys. He left her, barely clinging to life beside her bed. Chained beads were wrapped around her neck, and tied on the bed. Her head, bruised by her... 'vibrating toy'. It was shoved into her throat, down to her esophagus. He had made her swallow it, as it still vibrated. She was covered in blood as she was repeatedly struck by a piece of wood at her head. Her left eye was carved out, while the right had a fork stabbed to it.

He single handedly escaped her house, with only the whip and a chair as his weapon. He was found and rescued the next day, lying on a pile of dead people he had killed. He was sent to rehabilitation for four months before he became stable again and decided to go back into the action.

As her cold hands touched his arm, he suddenly screamed, and fired Cyrrus at the innocent inkling. "No more! No more! Not today you dirty pervert!" He continued to press on the trigger, before the gun ran out of ammunition. He looked at the inkling, her ink splattered on the ground. her upper body was utterly destroyed, while her lower body was covered in holes. Her clothing was ripped into shreds. "Oops. I guess I overreacted. Are you alright?" He poked her, and she fell on the ground with a loud thud.

"Never mind." He said, walking inside the hut, avoiding the ink puddle on the ground.

As he got in the hut, he found out that it was almost empty, with only a table, a chair, a pen and a notebook inside.

He took the yellow notebook and looked at the cover. 'Amber Solitude's Diary.'

He blinked once. Then twice. "Holy shit!" He looked back at the ink puddle, and back at the notebook, then at the map, safely placed inside his pocket, then back at the notebook.

"The forest isn't called Amber Solitude!" He looked at the ink puddle, took the notebook, and opened it. There, he saw numerous photos of her, beside other people. A bold heading over the photos said, 'People I had helped!' She was smiling as she took group photos of herself and the others. There were varying people from all walks of life. There were travelers, survivors, fellow inklings, humans and inklings, and even bandits and soldiers!

"And I just killed the good samaritan of the fucking forest." He said, closing the notebook.

"Amber! Are you home?" He heard a voice from just outside the hut.

"Shit!" He took the notebook, and ran outside. He dove towards a bush, his favorite hiding place, and waited.

"I just fucking killed the fucking good samaritan of the fucking forest. No wonder why they named the forest after her." He said, nervously.

"Amber!" He then heard the voice scream out loud.

"Oh fuck."

Author's Notes:

(Actually still waiting for CC Generals 2.)

Due to school, lack of time to actually write the story, and my PC suddenly being unusable by the moment, expect a longer wait time for updates.


	18. Act Three - Chapter Four

"Amber! Oh my God, why?!" He peeked out of the bush, and saw a human kneel down beside Amber's ink puddle. He was wearing a plain white T-shirt, and jeans. "Those fucking bastards! They did this to you!" He said, and got in her hut.

Carbon just sat in the bush, looking at the door. The man suddenly gasped. "They also got your notebook!" Carbon heard a loud thud, and he actually heard the man cry. "I… I never got to say to you that… I loved you." He sobbed.

Carbon just sat there, unable to process what happened. "That escalated quickly." He said, before deciding to turn around and continue his way.

'Why in the actual fuck did I shoot her?' He said, in his head. 'I thought I had already gotten over my problem back in the First Sierran War.'

'Your mistakes in the past may heal, but your scars and memories will remain.' He then heard a voice from somewhere. He looked around, trying to find the voice.

"I'm going insane." He slowly creeped away, making sure not to snag any brushes or snap any twigs.

"Coral! I'm home!" Carbon heard a voice, before he could leave the bush. He immediately stumbled back to his hiding place, made a small hole in front of him and peek through it. There, he saw another inkling, with the same color of tentacles and the same attire with the one he had just killed. "Coral… is everything okay?"

Carbon heard another scream, and looked away. He shut his eyes, unable to see the scene unfold. "Ah, what the fuck." He looked at the hut, and saw the other inkling weep beside the puddle.

"Amber? Is that you?" He then heard the man ask.

"Kyle?! When did you- did you see who did this, at all?!" The inkling, the true Amber, hugged Kyle.

"No, I didn't." He said, staring at the puddle. He paused for a minute, before looking at Amber.

"So, you're Amber." She nodded. "And that's Coral." He pointed at the puddle. She nodded again.

He then fist pumped. "Finally! I don't have to choose between the two of you anymore!"

"My sister just died, and you're still thinking about who the hell you're going to marry?!" Amber said, pushing Kyle away. "Why were you even here, anyway?"

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot!" Kyle pulled out a note from his pocket.

"If this is another of your marriage proposals, I'm going to have to say no." She said, crossing her arms.

"No! The village, it's under attack!" He opened the note, placing it in front of Amber for her to read it.

Carbon tried to get a better view of the note, but the inkling just covered his view. "Fuck." He cursed.

"What am I going to do about it?" Amber asked.

"I don't know, you know everybody? Right?" Kyle said, nudging Amber in the shoulder.

"No! I don't know anyone from this area! Only those weirdos in Paradise and the Order in Goldmine!"

"Then who's that?" Kyle said, pointing at Carbon's direction.

Carbon just stared at them, before closing the small hole he made in the bush he made in order for him to see. "Damn it."

'Nice escape.' The voice said.

"Oh, shut up." He said, causing the voice to cease.

Carbon stood up, with hands raised in the air. "I'm sorry, I was just strolling by, then I overheard your conversation. Do you need any assistance?" He asked, smiling nervously.

"Someone's raiding our village of Sanctuary!" Kyle said, suddenly appearing in front of Carbon and shook him. Not his hand. Him.

"Okay! Okay, just… chill." Carbon said. "Who's attacking?"

"Insurgents! Terrorists!" Kyle said, pointing at the village's direction. They saw a towering cloud of smoke coming from the village.

"Humans, or inklings?" Carbon asked.

"Humans!" Kyle said, as he groaned in impatience.

"Well, I don't exactly have any weapons for humans." Carbon said, and held Cyrrus. "This one's for the Inklings." Amber looked at Carbon questionably.

"I'll give you a weapon when we get there! Your suit might come in handy!" Kyle said, pulling Carbon towards the village.

"Why the hell do you need my suit?!" Carbon asked.

"Just trust me!" Kyle said, grunting heavily as he tried to pull Carbon.

Amber just chuckled, and followed the two men.

Ten minutes into the walk, Carbon asked, "Are we there yet?"

"It might help if you would actually WALK like the rest of us!" Kyle said, grunting as he pulled Carbon. Carbon looked back, and found out that he had made a small trail.

"Woah, neat." He said.

Kyle breathed heavily. He sat down on a tree, and fanned himself. He was sweating like mad.

"Not used to carrying heavy load?" Carbon asked.

"Oh, go fuck yourself." Kyle said, speaking between deep breaths.

He stood up, and went to the front. "Come on, the village is just up ahead." He removed the bush covering their vision, and saw the village being destroyed by the armed men.

"Oh my God! My shop!" Kyle said, looking at his demolished shop.

Carbon noticed a slight tint of green in some areas. "Are those?"

"Radioactive chemicals, yes." Kyle said, wiping a tear. He looked at his shop again. "I was born in that shop."

"Where are they?" Carbon asked, looking around the village.

"They're right there. Somewhere." Kyle said, looking around as well.

We then saw a young child, coming out of his hiding spot. He saw Kyle, and looked around. Seeing no one, he began to run towards Kyle. Halfway there, we heard a single bang, and the running child's head literally exploded into bits and pieces.

The child's body fell, lining up with a cone of his blood, brains and bone jutting towards south-east.

"At least we know that the sniper is probably at that direction." Carbon pointed at the north-west, directly at a tall, shady looking building. "Let's just go back." Carbon began to turn around and walk the opposite direction.

"Woah, woah hey!" Kyle went in front of her, and stopped him. "You can't do that!"

"This ain't no damn video game!" Carbon said, continuing his way. "I can do whatever the hell I wa-" He suddenly ran into an invisible wall. He held his nose as it ached in pain. "Unless the author totally disagrees with it." He looked around. "Fuck you."

Kyle looked around as well. "Who the heck are you talking to?"

Carbon turned around, and went towards the village. "Come on. Let's just go."

"Right behind you." Kyle said, as he marched behind Carbon. "One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four!" He spoke every step he took.

Carbon face palmed. "This is going to be a long day."

Carbon looked up in the sky, and saw the sun now leaving it's highest peak. They neared the building, looking out for anyone attackers that might surprise them.

The jumped from cover to cover, trying to avoid the sniper's sight.

As they reached the building, Carbon formulated a plan in this head.

'Okay. Stone building, four floors, 50m length and 100m width. Possibly two rooms on each side. Windows in the front side count to six each floor. Six times two times four. Estimated to be at least 24 rooms total. Most of the windows are boarded up, save for a select few. Six windows remain. Referring to the direction the blood sprayed as the boy died, it would seem that the sniper is either in the third floor, fifth room, or in the fourth floor, third room.'

"Okay, I have a pla-" Carbon turned to Kyle, which was gone. He looked around, and saw him climbing on the fire exit. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm going to find a way in!" Kyle said, giving Carbon a thumbs up.

"No! Get down from there! They're going to see you!" Carbon said, gesturing to Kyle to stop.

Kyle continued, and went to the fourth floor. He lifted a slightly opened window, and sneaked in.

"Hey! What are you doing in he-" Carbon heard a voice coming from the floor. He then heard something hard getting slammed into metal, and saw an unknown man fall from the open window. He stepped backwards, letting the man fall in front of him.

"I feel like every bone in me body's broke, which in fact, is." The man muttered weakly, before passing out.

Carbon knelt down, and took the man's gun. A simple submachine gun. It had slim magazines, which were inserted in the back. It had a little holographic sight on the top. Carbon released it's current mag, and checked inside. 'Still fresh.' Carbon thought, inserting the magazine back in the gun.

He checked the unconscious man again, and found three magazines of ammunition. He placed the three extra magazines in his pocket. Seeing that it had no strap, or it has no way of attaching it to Carbon's suit, he needed to carry it.

Kyle's head poked out of the open window again. "What the hell are you doing? Get up here!" He said.

Carbon sighed, and walked towards the fire exit. He gripped the steel ladder, and started to climb up. "Hey! Who the fuck are you?!" He heard a voice coming from behind him. He climbed faster, making the man draw out his weapon and fire at Carbon.

As Carbon reached the first platform, he aimed the submachine gun at the armed man. The man dove to cover, and hid. There, he lifted his rifle and fired blindly towards Carbon. One bullet grazed Carbon's left arm and puncture his suit, causing him to hiss in pain. He ran to the stairs, and to the second platform.

The man ran away, to call for more reinforcements. Carbon hurried, and climbed to the third platform. A man suddenly emerged from the door, grabbing Carbon's neck. Carbon strained to remove the man's tight grip on his neck. He grabbed the man's head and did a headbutt. Discombobulated, the man desperately tried to grapple Carbon.

Carbon quickly grabbed the man by his face, and slammed the back of his head to the steel rail. He grabbed the man's leg and his arm, and carried him. He threw the man out of the platform, causing him to fall to his inevitable death.

Carbon started to go up again, but was stopped as a bullet hit the steel stairs. Carbon retreated inside the building, which was empty. He found the stairs, and climbed towards the fourth floor. There he met Kyle, wearing a woolen cap and held a rifle. The rifle was metal, but the stock was orange wood.

"Damn, I look like someone from Absolute!" He said, as he did a pose. He stepped on a dead man, his left hand resting on his waist, and his right held the rifle's barrel, as it positioned upwards. He looked sightly to the left, and did a somewhat ridiculous face.

"You know what? You look ABSOLUTEly ridiculous." A bullet then hit his cap, which slowly descended to the floor. "Shit!" Carbon cursed, tackling Kyle and moving them out of range.

Carbon took his submachine gun, and peeked out of cover. Before he could even take a look, a massive barrage of bullets came raining towards them. A distinguishable sound of a minigun firing filled the entire building. Kyle covered his ears, huddled in the corner, as Carbon turned around to avoid the incoming shards of glass getting thrown as him as the minigun fired at the windows. "How'd they get a fucking forty?!"

Kyle didn't answer, and continued to cover his ears to shield them from the loud reports coming from the weapon. Carbon sighed, and took his submachine gun. He looked at it, and back at the attackers. "You may be small, but you can make a big difference." He said to the motionless weapon. He then nodded at the weapon.

"Arrivederci." He threw the submachine gun at the attacker.

"Ow! Hey! What the fuck?!" Carbon heard the man grunt, and saw this as a window of opportunity. He ran towards the man, which was monumentally bigger than him. He jumped on the man, and pulled out his knife. The giant man, however, was not going to go down without a fight. He grabbed Carbon's waist, and threw him across the room.

"Why the fuck did I throw that gun?!" Carbon quickly recovered, and rolled sideways as the giant took his minigun again and started firing. Carbon took cover behind a wall, as the giant man continued his relentless assault. Carbon looked around for anything to change the battle on his favor. He then saw two dead men on the other side of the room, maybe due to Kyle's rampage.

The thing is, however, he needs to cross multiple doors and windows that the giant man can fire through, and the wall there was wooden, meaning that the man could fire at him through the walls.

He looked at the man, and at the two corpses on the other side. It was risky, but the two men could have weapons that he could use.

The giant man took a step forward. "Where are you, tiny man!?" He said in a deep accent.

Carbon looked at the two dead men. He exhaled deeply, and decided what he would do next. "Ah, fuck it."

Author's Comments:

(Where's Amber Solitude?)

A new chapter!

Aiming for 50k - 60k words, then this bet is finished.


	19. Act Three - Chapter Five

"Aaaaaaah!"

Here I was. Getting fired upon as I ran towards two dead men that may or may not have the weapons I have. I screamed, as I "expertly" avoided the bullets and ran.

Carbon slid down, avoiding the bullets as the giant man aimed above him. What must've been a very fatal shot only made Carbon scrape his knee. "Ah, fuck!" He cursed, crawling towards the corpses. As he got there, he hastily searched to corpses for any weapon he could use.

"A slingshot." Carbon said, looking at the all mighty slingshot, attached at one of the corpses' belt. "Why do they even have a fucking slingshot?!"

12 minutes earlier…

"H-Hey. Check this out Barry." One of the men said, as he took a slingshot from his belt. He loaded it with a cooked grenade, and flung it to the air. The grenade blew up mid air, killing three birds. "Woah! Did you see that?!"

Barry, however, thought he could do better. "Give me that Gary." He said, taking the slingshot forcefully from Gary's hands. "I'm going to murder an inkling with this slingshot o' yours." He said, as he scanned the area for any movement. Then, he saw a little child, running across a wide dirt road, in the entrance of Sanctuary.

"Not an inkling, but pretty much the same." He said, picking up a rock and loaded it into the slingshot. He aimed at the young child, and took a deep breath. As he released the rock, it was immediately affected by gravity, and hit their boss. He looked at the sniper, and shouted at him. "You stole our kill!" He shouted.

"Why don't you stay out of this, Junior! This is a fucking war!" The sniper snapped back.

"Junior?! I'm fucking twenty-five!" Barry shouted. "I'm gonna come up there, and give ya a big whooping!" He said, getting out of the room and climbing up the emergency exit. Gary sighed, and followed Barry. After all, Barry IS in-charge of him. Even though he may be a bit tad more… immature than him.

Kyle, somewhat seeing the action unfold, gave him an idea that led them both to the sniper. As Carbon was still standing there, staring into oblivion, he climbed the fire exit, following the two gentlemen.

As Kyle got up to the sniper, he saw the sniper grab one man by his collar, and another man trying to stop him. Kyle then shouted, "Hello!"

As the sniper, and the two men had their attention drawn to him, Kyle popped the joints in his knuckles and looked at them.

"Alright? Who's first?"

Carbon took the slingshot, and crawled behind the wall, trying to avoid detection. He hid, and waited for the giant man to come near. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

He waited…

And waited…

"Where are you?!" The man went inside the room, and looked at the other side. Carbon looked at the towering man, and gripped the slingshot.

He screamed, and charged. He jumped, surprising the giant man. He used the slingshot to choke the man, causing the giant man to flail around, trying to throw Carbon off him.

After a few long minutes, the giant man finally succumbed to the lack of air, and fell down with a loud thud. Carbon stood up, brushing some dust stuck in his suit. He coughed and he staggered weakly as he stumbled towards the door.

"Damn, that's some David and Goliath shit." Kyle appeared, entering the room.

"Where the hell were you five minutes ago?" Carbon asked, coughing again.

"Oh, here and there." Kyle said, whistling a tune.

"Ah, never mind. Where's Amber?" Carbon asked, looking around.

"Ah, her. She never goes near the village," Kyle scoffed. "Must've ran back to her little cottage and have 69 with her sister."

"Her sister's dead, Kyle,"

Carbon said, as a matter-of-factly, looking at him questionably. "Also, sixty-nine? What the hell. Who the hell does 69 to her own sister?"

"Hey, some people do it." Kyle said, looking away as he whistled again.

Carbon paused, his face going blank. "So you mean you have sex with her sister, or you have sex with your own brother?"

Kyle looked at him, a disgusted look placed on his face. "Gross, dude! I prefer having sex with her than with my own brother, if I even had one in the first place!"

"Alright man. Whatever you say," Carbon said. "The ramblings of a poor, cornered fool." He muttered.

"Hey, I heard that!"

Amber Solitude was a gifted inkling. Even though there were no humans and a very few animals in Inkopolis, she always knew what to do if a sick or wounded traveler were to stumble by her small cottage.

She lived with her sister, Coral. They were happy together, and satisfied with their choice of living. As Amber would have to get supplies for her to use in her medicine and healing, she would often leave the house.

Usually, Coral would take over. She had been taking lessons with her sister, wanting to help others too. But as she came back one fateful day, she found her sister on the ground. Splatted into thick globs of ink.

It was heartbreaking for her. She wept, and mourned in her cottage for a long time. Only for about five hours.

It was then she heard three knocks on her door. She wiped some of her tears off her face. And with a soft, teary voice, she called out. "Who is it?"

{Don't worry.} She heard a voice from outside. {It's a friend.}

She stood up, but sat down again on her bed. {Go away.}

{Come on, Amber.} The inkling outside spoke. {You do want to know who killed your sister, do you?}

Amber's head shot up, and she quickly scrambled for the door. She opened it, revealing an inkling with red tentacles. He went in, and bowed to Amber.

He was wearing standard agent gear, and wielded a Hero Shot. He grabbed two chairs, and placed them beside a table. He guided Amber to one of the chairs, and sat next to her. {Look, I'm very sorry about your sister.}

Amber looked at him, her eyes filled with tears. {Tell me, who did it?}

{Straight to the point, aren't we?} The other inkling chuckled. Amber glared at him for a moment, before breaking back into tears. {Hey, hey.} He said, softly. He slightly lifted Amber's face, making their gazes lock to each other. He wiped some of her tears off. {Alright, I'll tell you.}

He whispered something at Amber's ears, and her eyes opened widely as he finished. Her eyes twitched, and she stared at the wall in front of her.

{I'll do it.} She said, walking to an old, dusty chest. She opened it, revealing a pair of agent garments, and a plethora of weapons. She took her Hero Shot, and stared at it.

{It's been a while.} She aimed her weapon at the door, and fired. Firing pink ink directly at the door.

She exhaled, and held her weapon. {I will avenge you, Coral.} She said, as she left her hut. She stopped right in front of it, and looked up in the sky, and she then saw a helicopter whiz by. {No matter what it takes.}

Author's Comments:

(Not notes. **Comments.** )

Finally, another update.

I can't work fast in a busy environment.


	20. Act Three - Chapter Six

Carbon and Kyle got down from the building, taking the stairs. After a few minutes, they finally got to the ground floor, and left the building on the back. It turned out, it had a parking area. "I didn't know you guys had cars!" Carbon exclaimed, looking at the empty space.

"Oh, we had cars. But most had been destroyed and made into alloy to fund for the war. Finding a working car is very rare now." Kyle said, walking towards the light.

Suddenly, a multitude of men went into the parking lot, aiming their weapons towards Kyle and Carbon.

"You two! Hands on the ground, now!" One grunt shouted, and went closer.

Kyle instantly took his sniper rifle, and fired at the battalion. Both of them took cover, as the military returned fire.

"How the fuck did the military get here so quickly?!" Carbon shouted, flinching as a bullet bounced off the concrete pillar he was hiding behind.

"I have no idea, man!" Kyle shouted back, as he stood up, and fired at the incoming battalion of soldiers.

A bullet whizzed past his ear, causing him to sit back down on a concrete barrier in front of him. "There's too many of them!"

Carbon peeked out of his cover, and counted the soldiers in front of them. "Six...eight...ten...twelve-" A bullet hit his cover, chipping away some of the concrete. It ricocheted, penetrating Carbon's suit and barely hitting his eye. It grazed on the side of his head, and went out the other side. "Fuck!" He cursed, going back to cover.

"Carbon, you alright?" Kyle called out, as he fired at the army again.

"I really need a new HAZMAT." Carbon said, as he peeked out of cover again.

He then felt the ground shook, intensity increasing every second. "Is this an earthquake?" Kyle asked, as he went back to cover, and decided to fire blindly at the armed militia.

"No, even worse." Carbon said, taking Artemis from his back. He checked it's power, and rested it on his shoulder.

"What's even worse than an earthquake?" Kyle asked, as he removed the magazine from his sniper rifle, and loaded it with a new one.

A large, green object suddenly appeared in front of them, and aimed its barrel towards Carbon. "Tank!" Carbon shouted, running away from the concrete pillar. The tank fired, instantly shattering the pillar. He hid behind the concrete barricade where Kyle was hiding. "Cover me!" He shouted, as he aimed Artemis at the tank.

"What the fuck is that?!" Kyle yelled, looking at Artemis with a mix of shock, confusion, and amazement.

"I'll tell you when we get that tank disabled!" Carbon said, pressing his finger on the trigger.

Three beams came out of Artemis' tip, forming a V. Carbon locked on the tank, the side beams getting closer to the middle beam second by second. The tank pointed it's barrel at Carbon, and the battalion fled and took cover behind the tank. "Carbon, it's looking at you!"

"I fucking know that!" He said, still locking on to the tank. The tank suddenly fired, hitting the barrier. The middle part crumbled, while the sides still stood. "Fuck!"

Fortunately, Carbon got a lock. "Got it!" He released the trigger, causing the beams to dissipate, and a much brighter, and larger beam took it's place. The tank exploded into heaps of fire and scrap, and the soldiers retreated back. Carbon and Kyle gained ground, and went forward. Carbon attached Artemis to his back, and took one of the weapons the soldiers had dropped. He searched the corpses, and found numerous magazines. He took four, and reloaded the weapon.

It was a simple assault rifle, the design hints that it is mainly used in close quarters combat. That meant, high rate of fire, but low accuracy, and possibly high amount of recoil.

They finally moved out of the parking area, and got outside. A plethora of vehicles, and an army of men met them outside, and open fired at them. They ran, barely avoiding the bullets from hitting them. They jumped to cover, behind a wall of a collapsed house.

They were pinned down, being fired by both low and high-velocity weaponry. Kyle peeked out of cover, and instantly went back down. "Fuck!" He shouted, and looked around.

"What did you see out there?" Carbon asked, causing Kyle to snap out of his panic attack.

"Every fucking vehicle in the military is out there! Jeeps, tanks, and I swear, I think I even saw a helicopter above them!" Kyle exclaimed.

"Well, we're doomed." Carbon sighed. "It would take a miracle for us to survive this hellish overki-" He was interrupted, as he heard a shout just in front of them. At the forest in front of them, a large number of armed inklings charged towards the military. Carbon and Kyle stared at the large number of inklings, not noticing the two men hiding behind the crumbling wall.

Not waiting for any other interruptions, Carbon grabbed Kyle's arm as he retreated back into the forest.

"That was a lucky escape." Carbon said, sitting down on trunk of a fallen tree.

"I know." Kyle said, catching his breath. After a few minutes of rest, he stood up, and looked around. "Come on, let's go find our way back to Amber."

"Alright." Carbon stood up, and followed Kyle. Twenty minutes into the walk, Carbon took Cyrrus and held it tightly.

"Why the weapon? It's Amber for God's sake." Kyle said, removing a branch that blocked their path.

"I don't know." Carbon said, looking at his left. "I have a strange feeling."

Kyle suddenly laughed. He wiped a tear, and placed a hand on Carbon's shoulder. "A strange feeling?!" He said, holding his stomach. "That's the best thing you said today."

Carbon just glared at him, as he waited his fit of laughter to stop.

"I swear, it's Amber for crying out loud!" Kyle said, removing some overgrown foliage, and walking down a few steps further. He and Carbon then saw Amber's hut at the distance. "She wouldn't hurt a single fly!"

Shortly afterwards, they heard a click beside Carbon, and Amber came out of the thick foliage, wearing full battle gear, and held the same weapon that the special inklings wielded. He slowly raised his hands, and looked at Kyle.

"Wouldn't hurt a fly?" He asked, causing Kyle to slowly raise his rifle, and pointed it at Amber.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Another inkling appeared behind Kyle, pointing it's weapon at his head. Carbon reacted by raising his weapon, and aiming it at the inkling.

It was a standoff. Both parties were at gunpoint of each other.

"Amber… why?" Kyle asked, causing Amber to shout at him furiously.

"This isn't like your petty marriage proposals, Kyle!" She yelled, and pointed her Hero Shot back at Carbon. "This is personal-"

She looked at where Carbon was, only to see that he vanished. Carbon rolled to the side, and jumped at Kyle, pushing him to the foliage. "Go!" Carbon said, turning back to Amber. She now held her weapon point-blank, pointing it at Carbon's face.

Carbon, reacting quickly, ducked as Amber fired the weapon. The ink landed on the other inkling's face, causing him to grunt in annoyance. Carbon took Cyrrus, and fired at Amber. He wiped out her lower torso, and destroyed most of her legs. She screamed in pain, as Carbon turned around, and saw the other inkling pointing his blaster at him. Not waiting any longer, he fired at Carbon, hitting him at the HAZMAT suit, at the head to be exact. Carbon, dazed and nauseated, took his weapon and fired blindly at the inkling, unable to see due to the ink blocking his vision.

The inkling however, ran back into the forest. Carbon shortly ran out of ammunition, and decided to remove the HAZMAT suit. He threw the suit on the ground, and looked at himself. "Damn it. I wouldn't want to ruin my uniform." He said, taking his weapons – minus the flamethrower – with him.

"Like the other weapons, I'm going to regret leaving that behind someday." He said, looking at the flamethrower one last time before continuing his way.

Unbeknownst to him, Amber's seemingly dead body never liquefied.

Author's Comments:

(Mom, can you go pick me up?)

Hello! This might be the fourth...or fifth...tenth...twelfth time, but please, tell me if there's any spelling or grammatical mistakes, and I will fix it. Thank you.


	21. Act Three - Chapter Seven

They traversed the jungle, weapons in hand. It was an unforgiving environment, insects kept biting them, and falling through an unseen crevasse was common. It was also very easy to be lost, with the tall trees and thick foliage covering them.

Food was plentiful, however, the inklings had contaminated it with their ink. Water was also contaminated, the animals too.

Food was literally everywhere, but they couldn't even get and eat them, lest they get very painful symptoms. "Hey." Carbon said, getting Kyle's attention. "What do you guys eat everyday? I mean, everything here tastes like shit." He took a fruit growing from a nearby tree. It was round and big enough to fit neatly in his hand. He crushed it in his fist, causing the juice inside to seep out. It was glossy and colorful, like a thin filament of oil. "Looks like shit." He threw the fruit on the ground, and left it there. "Smells like shit, too."

"We eat each other." Kyle said casually, and smirked. Carbon, however, halted to a stop, mouth wide agape.

"What?!" Carbon shouted, startling some birds, causing them to fly away.

"Ah, I'm just messing with you." Kyle said, as he let out a heartily laugh. "I can't believe you fell for i-" He then collided with a seemingly invisible wall. It gave a loud clang as he bumped to it.

"I can't believe you fell for that either." Carbon said, snickering.

"What was that?" Kyle said, as he held his nose. He slowly stood up, and tried to feel the wall again.

It turned out, it was expertly camouflaged. "It's camouflaged." Kyle said, feeling the steel wall. "How the hell did they make it so real?!"

"The real question is, how the hell could you even bump into it. You could see the fake netting at this distance." Carbon said, walking toward the camouflaged object. He walked around the wall, and saw a slightly dented, but otherwise a perfectly fine howitzer. It's ammunition were lying on the ground, waiting for it to be loaded inside. Carbon searched around for some more, and found numerous mortars with their ammunition also lying down on the ground. They were on top of a high, elevated area.

"Who the hell would leave such perfectly kept weaponry here?" Kyle said, brushing off some fallen leaves on the large 105mm howitzer. "Hey Carbon, you might want to see this."

Carbon walked towards Kyle, and looked at the howitzer. "What?" Carbon asked.

Kyle then pointed to a part on the howitzer. Carbon saw a symbol printed on it, and scratched his head. "What exactly am I looking at?"

"That's the Paraline Elite." Kyle said, looking around. "This is all theirs!"

Carbon brushed off the dust that were still on the howitzer, revealing numerous words.

"74th State Artillery Company. One does not need hope in order to have purpose."

"Hm. Intriguing." He said, searching for other things in the abandoned artillery dump.

"Hey, I found something!" Kyle shouted, trying to get Carbon's attention. Carbon ran towards Kyle, and asked.

"What?" Kyle pulled down a small box, shut close by a simple coded padlock.

"We don't have the code." Kyle said, checking out the lock. Carbon just stared at the box, seemingly made out of metal. "0-0-0-0-0." Kyle said, entering the combination. "0-0-0-0-1." He said again, inputting the combination. "0-0-0-0-2."

Carbon, however looked at Kyle like he was insane. "The fuck you doing?"

"Guessing that code." Kyle said, placing another code on the lock.

"0-0-1-9-6."

"0-0-1-9-7."

"0-0-1-9-8."

They had been sitting in that area for hours, with Kyle trying to 'crack' the code. "0-0-1-9-9." Kyle said, placing the numbers on the lock.

"0-0-2-0-0." The lock clicked, causing Kyle to smile. He lifted the box, and cheered. "Yes! Yes, finally!"

Carbon, who was hugging on of the mortars as he slept, suddenly jolted awake, causing him to knock his head on one of the nearby mortars. "Who the fuck put that there?!" He exclaimed, rubbing his head.

Kyle brought the box to him, lifting the box up to his face. "I finally opened it!" He tried to open it, but it remained shut.

"You have exceeded the maximum amount of tries. You may only try again in two-hundred and seventy three days, fourteen hours, and twenty-seven minutes." The box spoke, causing Kyle to freeze.

"Wait, locks can do that?" Carbon said, as he yawned deeply.

Kyle's left eye twitched, before he knelt to the ground. Still holding the box, he laughed spontaneously, and threw the box at the howitzer. "I have tried to open you for the last three hours and this is what you gave me?!" He took his sniper rifle, and fired relentlessly at the old, metal box. He gave a loud, piercing scream, as he fired round after round at the box.

One and a half magazines wasted later, he finally ceased. He let out a small chuckle, before dropping the rifle on the ground. Afterwards, he himself dropped on the ground, not moving an inch. "I need a nap." He stated, instantly falling asleep.

Carbon, now fully awake, snapped to full consciousness by Kyle's rampage, held his assault rifle and began to keep watch. After those loud bangs, it was certain that someone would check the source of the noise.

The moon was at it's peak, shining brightly on top of Carbon and Kyle. The wolves howled loudly at the distance, but Carbon ignored it. He searched the artillery one last time, and found a small handgun hidden inside a small box, underneath one of the mortars. The box also contained a note, and a picture of a masked soldier with his wife, and children. The note was absolute gibberish. Carbon could make out a few incomprehensible words, like it's from another language, but other than that, it just made Carbon's head hurt.

Carbon checked the handgun again, it was painted with black scaly patterns, and it had a laser sight, and a suppressor. Carbon held the pistol, and it felt comfortable around his hand.

He then found another box underneath one of the other mortars. He pulled out the box, feeling a sense of heat from it. As he slowly opened the box, he felt an immense pain on his hands. His palm went red, then pale. "What the?!" He took two twigs, and used them to open the box. Inside, he found a smooth, small, metal ball with a faint green color. A radioactive symbol was printed on the bottom of the cover. A text could be seen below the symbol. "Plutonium-239." Carbon said, as he looked at the metal sphere.

"Nope." Carbon placed the cover back on the box, and buried the radioactive sphere back into the ground.

Seeing that there are no more other useful objects in the artillery dump, he decided to go back to Kyle, and wait for daylight. But then, another group of howls sounded, much closer than the last one. Clutching his newly found pistol, he continued his way to their camp, and wait for sunrise. As he strolled towards the camp in a slow, steady pace, he heard three loud consecutive gunshots coming from where Kyle slept.

Fearing that something may have happened, he quickened his pace.

Author's Comments:

(Is this...is this still called Earth?)

It took a long time, but here's an update.


	22. Act Three - Chapter Eight

Carbon quickened his pace, running towards Kyle. His advance was impeded by steep, elevated ground, yet, it did not deter him. He shouldered Cyrrus, and began to scale the low cliff, grabbing rock after rock, trying to climb as fast as he could. As he got closer to the surface, he took out his pistol, and threw it to the top. He then slowly began to scale the cliff once again, inching closer to the artillery dump. As he got to the top, he immediately pulled himself, and rested his arms on the ground.

He took deep breaths, trying to regain some of his lost strength. He then heard the familiar click of a weapon at his side, and a nudge from a hard object to his head. "Stay where you are, pussyface." He heard a voice from his right. He looked up, and saw a tall being, pointing his rifle toward him. The soldier wore black, tactical gear, and had a balaclava which covered his face, and thick goggles that covered his eyes. A black tactical helmet covered his head, and a heavy vest protected his torso.

'He wears gear akin to a Hexagon Reconnaissance Infiltration Trooper.' Carbon thought. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the right foot of the soldier, and pulled it towards Bismuth. The soldier, not expecting the sudden show of force, was unprepared for the attack. The man instantly went down, and dropped his weapon. "What the--?" The soldier said, looking towards Carbon asked he continued to get up. Carbon stood up, and looked at Kyle, which was hiding behind a large howitzer, getting suppressed by continuous enemy fire.

Carbon started to run towards the pinned down man, but was suddenly knocked down by a simple kick on his foot. He tripped to the ground, and saw the soldier just beside him, still lying down. The man went on top of Carbon, and repeatedly hooked him at the left cheek. Carbon, out of options, lunged his arms towards his opponent's neck. He began to tighten his grip on the soldier, choking the man. The man retaliated by lunging his own hands at Carbon's neck.

Both were now just trying to overpower the other. Carbon took a decisive move, and threw a knee at the man's lower regions. The soldier grunted, and slowly lost grip of Carbon's neck. Carbon quickly took advantage, and placed his feet between them, and kicked as hard as he could, throwing the man off the steep incline. Carbon looked down, and saw the man roll down to the bottom, before stopping abruptly as he hit a tree. Carbon winced at the sight, and stared at the man for a few seconds, before running to Kyle.

He took the soldier's rifle, and sprinted towards Kyle. He quickly took cover behind the howitzer, and asked. "Who the hell are they?" Carbon said, before slightly ducking as a bullet hit the top of the howitzer, which ricocheted away from them.

"I don't know, man!" Kyle said, before pulling his rifle, placing it on top of the howitzer, and firing blindly towards the soldiers. "I just woke up, and suddenly, they appeared out of nowhere, like some kind of voodoo magic or shit! They fired weapons with little to no apparent sound whatsoever!"

I attempted to look at the unknown attackers, but was stopped by yet another barrage of enemy bullets. "Shit!" Carbon grunted.

"You know, I don't know if you can hear it, but sometimes, when their bullets fly over our heads, you could hear tiny high pitched whistles!" Kyle said, reloading his rifle.

"That means they're using supersonic weaponry!" Carbon said, before realizing, "Wait, 'popped up out of nowhere', 'weapons with no report', 'supersonic ammunition'..."

"I'm gonna do something really dumb!" Carbon said to Kyle, who was now hugging his hunting rifle.

"What?!" Kyle shouted back.

"If this goes horribly wrong, I might lose a hand...possibly an arm." Carbon said, forming a hand symbol. He then closed my ring finger, placed the tip of his thumb to the tip of his ring finger, forming a small, mirrored 'L', and moved his small finger outwards. He then raised raised his arm, expecting it to be blown off at any minute.

"Pacacusi, pacacusi!" {Stop, stop!} One of the soldiers shouted. The soldiers conversed in a language, only known to Carbon. Kyle was pretty much confused. 'Could it be?' Carbon thought.

"Raxopo focuwe Furake?" {Are you Hexagon?} One of the soldiers spoke.

Carbon let out a sigh of relief. "What the hell are they saying?" Kyle asked, perplexed.

Carbon shushed him. "Slowly stand up, and put your hands up." He whispered. Both slowly stood up, hands raised above their head. Three soldiers, wearing the same gear that the soldier had, that Carbon fought earlier.

"Mepo parafo rakeragoqe, raxopo focuwe Furake?" {We say again, are you Hexagon?} The soldiers once again asked, pointing their white rifles at Carbon and Kyle.

"Don't mess this up." Carbon whispered to Kyle, which nodded in response. "Fopopa, go raqa Furake." {Yes, I am Hexagon.} Carbon replied to the soldiers.

"Meloraca rakocuweca calopo korapacaraxola kopopagolapo focuwe?" {What about the bastard beside you?} The soldier gestured to Kyle.

"Don't worry, he's with me." Carbon said, slowly lowering his hands. Carbon went to the soldiers, and shook hands with what seems to be the leader of the squad. "Carbon, Hexagon Cleaner. 726th Cleaner Brigade, HDMI. Originally stationed in Castle Paris, transported via Koleschev Wormhole."

"A Grayscale Horizons member? I am honored." The soldier said, before speaking once more, "Regent Four, 111st Hexagon Offensive Shock Brigade, HOST. Sent here on a missi--"

Six inklings suddenly burst out from the cover of the trees, and open fired at the group. They conjured up a battle cry. Before charging towards Carbon and the group.

"Shit, get down!" Carbon shouted, jumping towards the howitzer, and drawing out Cyrrus.

Kyle ran and took cover behind the trees. The three Hexagon Orbital Shock Troopers, however…

"Long Live the Hexagon!" They all shouted, and charged towards the inklings. They took out their sidearms, and open fired at the inklings.

Their weapons had significant effect against the inklings, bringing them down with each shot. "Attend, attend!" {Fire, fire!} The leader shouted. The inklings started to retreat back into the cover of the trees. Four have easily fallen in the first thirty seconds, and the two hid behind the trees.

"Throw a fucking Arcane!" Regent Four shouted, before the agent standing at his right took an elliptical from his vest, and threw it towards the inklings.

Seconds later, a large flash of light blinded Kyle and Carbon. They were nauseated at first, but starting to regain their sight. Carbon looked at where the Arcane Grenade detonated, and found a large, smooth, spherical crater, devoid of any matter. Kyle stared at the crater, his mouth wide open.

"What the fuck was that?" Kyle asked, pointing at the crater.

"Hold that thought," Regent Four shouted, listening intently. It was silence. Complete silence. "That grenade was too bright. We need to get out, now." The agent said, holstering his pistol.

"But I don't hear anything." Kyle said, looking around. "Maybe it's just a bridge or somethi--"

"I think they're right there!" They heard a voice, coming from beyond the treeline, not far away.

"Shit, we've got to move!" Another trooper grabbed Carbon's arm, and fiddled with his watch. "Now!" He said, before pressing a black and yellow button on his watch.

Carbon suddenly felt a nauseating feeling, and everything went white.

o~o~o~o~o

A/N: (A new chapter?!)

Back out of hiatus!

After seeing that this story's number of view have been steadily rising, even though that I had stopped working on it a long time ago, inspired me to write another chapter.

Thanks, and as usual: All criticism is welcome!


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